All Or Nothing
by pinktink008
Summary: AU, OFC/Emmett pairing. Rosalie Hale died during the battle with Victoria's newborn army. After a period of mourning, Emmett Cullen meets someone who could be special to him but he doesn't realize a good thing when he sees it. Can the others help Emmett see that falling in love with a human isn't such a bad thing? WIP
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer****: This is and Emmett/OFC fic. If you're not into that, please stop reading now so you don't find yourself knee deep and hating the story. If you ****_are_**** into it, feel free to read on and please leave me a review. My muse loves reviews! I don't own the characters from ****_The Twilight Saga. _********They, of course, belong to Stephanie Meyer. I own Marley Bradford. I'm trying to cover all the bases so there won't be need for another story so bear with me. This could wind up a long story. Also keep in mind that I don't follow cannon. I've mentioned it a few times to make sure everyone understands that this is AU (in case you don't like AU stories). Bella's a vampire but there's no Renesmee. I hope you like it, despite how truly different it is!**

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Completely lost in thought, which perhaps wasn't that common for him, Emmett Cullen didn't see the little brunette until he was almost on top of her. As it was, he just missed bumping into her, able to side step her before they walked right into one another. It seemed like she wasn't paying much attention either. She kept right on walking after Emmett stepped out of the way, never looking to see if she'd nearly bumped into someone or not.

Sometimes he thought that it was good to be a vampire. If it had been anyone else, she would have walked right into that person but Emmett was able to move quickly enough to get out of her way. Although it seemed like she had no idea that he'd even been there in the first place.

As she passed, he unintentionally got a good whiff of her scent. It was a heady smell, sweet and utterly delicious. Not that Emmett felt a sudden need to attack (it probably helped that he had recently fed) but it was enough to get his attention. He turned his head, suddenly stopping in the middle of the busy hallway to watch her walk away until she turned the corner. Other students walked around him, giving him the space he that needed, as they always did. No one wanted to get into Emmett Cullen's way. Once she turned the corner, he sighed and shook his head. There were too many thoughts swimming in his head for him to think clearly.

It had been nearly a year since Rosalie had died. Alice hadn't been able to see it coming and the fight had been so crazy. There wasn't anything anyone could've done to save her. While everyone had been fighting Victoria's newborn army, no one noticed that Rosalie had been taken down by a couple of them. The newborns knew enough to know what to do to dispatch of Rosalie, tearing her apart and leaving the pieces strewn about. She was almost unrecognizable. Of course the Cullens noticed, once everything was settled, what had happened. There hadn't been time to think though because Jane and the others had been on their way but still it had hurt everyone in the family, including Bella, but Emmett had taken the loss the hardest.

Some of the newborns had even gotten pieces of Rosalie into the fire before anyone had noticed so there was no going back, no fixing this. She was gone and it had ripped a hole in the family that seemed like it would never be healed. For a long time it felt like no one would be able to move past that loss. Rosalie was dead and while Bella had since married Edward and joined the Cullen family in more ways than one, it still hurt to think that Rosalie was dead and gone and Emmett was now left alone to cope. It seemed like they all had started doing everything they could to live their own lives to the fullest though, knowing that even their time could be limited.

Everyone moved past the loss after awhile though and began to rebuild their lives without Rosalie. It hadn't been easy at the time but they made it work. They'd been moving around ever since Bella had joined the family but it had been 'safe' for the family to return to Forks for a short time so she could visit family and friends in the area, to show them that she was, in fact, okay. While everyone else seemed to move on, Emmett had found it difficult to let go and being in Forks had caused some very intense reactions in Emmett. It wasn't easy on them, of course, but Emmett took it the hardest. Rosalie had been the love of his life and to die like she had, it made him feel like someone had ripped out his heart. It was a pain that he wasn't sure he'd ever recover from. Everyone seemed to treat Emmett with kid gloves, waiting for him to finally break.

It wasn't that the others didn't miss Rosalie. It wasn't as if they hadn't been hurt by the loss too. Everyone had cried, had been upset by the loss. It wasn't that it didn't feel like there was a hole in the family with her gone. They'd all felt like something horrible had happened, something that had left them all feeling like something important was missing from their lives, from their family. But everyone else had chosen to pick up the pieces and move on, except for Emmett.

It felt like a knife to his heart whenever he got the slightest reminder of her. The pain was almost unbearable. For a time, Emmett considered grabbing his things and leaving the family. It was a decision he toyed with a bit, something Edward had heard in Emmett's thoughts, a possibility that Alice had seen in Emmett's future. He just thought that some space and a chance to clear his head might be good for him but he also knew that running away wasn't going to change anything. Those reminders of Rosalie would still be there anyway. Soon the thoughts stopped swirling around in his head and while his future didn't seem clear, Alice let Emmett know that it would be okay 'some day'.

There would always be something to remind him of Rosalie though, something that would bring him some measure of pain. And sometimes it had seemed like everything in Forks had reminded him of Rosalie. Everything, now matter where he was, seemed to remind him of her. Her death felt like the worst possible thing that could have happened to Emmett. He had never known such pain before in his life. He felt like there was a hole inside of him, an emptiness that would never be healed. It was worse than the burning that came with becoming a vampire. It had gotten so difficult for him that Carlisle had decided to move the family to Seattle to get them away from Forks and away from anything that might remind Emmett of Rosalie.

For a while, it seemed like the move had worked. After a couple of months in Seattle, Emmett didn't sulk around the house nearly as much as he had before. And there weren't as many nights spent listening to him breaking things in an effort to get out his anger, guilt, frustration and sorrow in the most productive way that he knew how. There were probably other things he could have done to work out those emotions but none left Emmett feeling better afterwards the way breaking things seemed to make him feel. The destruction left him feeling like he had some measure of control, like there were still things that were well within his control.

The move, however, left everyone feeling like they were getting a fresh start. For Emmett, it seemed to do the most good. While they were starting high school again, for Emmett and Jasper it was starting out their junior year of high school again, for the others, it was their sophomore year all over again, it seemed like it would be all right. There were new things for the family to focus on, new challenges to be faced. The days seemed lighter with Emmett getting ready each day for school without too much prodding from Carlisle or Esme. While reliving another few years of high school wasn't anyone's idea of a good time, at least he was willing to go along with it. Things seemed like they would return to normal again or as normal as possible with a hole in the family.

Then, one day, out of the blue Emmett lost it again. There wasn't a reason behind it. No one had actually seen it coming but one night he went on a 'rampage'. Maybe something had set him off but it was something that was seemingly insignificant. It shouldn't have upset him like it did but suddenly it was as if everything that they thought they'd gotten under control was falling apart again.

He started to spend his nights wandering, finding junkyards in the city where he could smash car windows without it being a 'big deal'. For as much as Emmett felt the need to break something, he was aware that breaking someone's car windows (even if they were his own) wasn't the smartest idea so he went for the next best thing. He went after junked cars that no one missed. There weren't many trees near by and he just didn't have enough motivation to head out to the nearest national park to smash some trees either. He'd broken the couch in his room at least once but once it was replaced, he didn't make that mistake again. Emmett didn't want to disappoint Esme or Carlisle any more than he had already had.

He started sulking around the house as well. Most mornings Emmett seemed to have a difficult time finding the motivation necessary to do anything. He didn't want to move, too depressed want to do anything other than destroy, even kill if he was allowed to do so. If allowed to do so, he would have spent a whole day inside, blankly staring at the TV and feeling sorry for himself. And that was better than the alternative, better than his desire to kill and drink from every human he could get his hands on, his desire to drown in something other than his sorrow for awhile. Rarely, however, was he allowed to drown in those feelings.

Someone always seemed to find a reason to get Emmett to come to school or to keep him from killing the humans around them, even when he managed to wait and wait before feeding. Sometimes it seemed like he was looking for an excuse to slip up, a reason to have to open a vein on the nearest human to drink their blood. Alice seemed the best at distracting him though, sharing with Emmett possible futures that came with the various ideas that flitted through his head from time to time. It didn't change his sorrow but it was usually enough to keep him from killing anyone and it was certainly enough to get him out of the house every day for school, to keep up pretenses.

Today had been a good day so far though, even if those were rare. Emmett got moving in the morning without too much prodding, although Alice hinted that today might prove to be interesting and that had gotten his attention. The night before had been easier, quieter too. He went out but instead of looking to do damage, he found a few deer to feed on before making his way home. The hunt was good for him, even if it wasn't what he wanted to be hunting. But Emmett had gotten out there and had hunted, which felt good. He wasn't energized but he didn't mope around. It was that once he got to school, it was easy to get lost in thought that he found himself doing so almost every moment so far. Once he got lost in his own head, Emmett found that things didn't feel quite as 'light' as they had in the morning.

Except for that brief moment when he watched a pretty brunette that smelled like fresh rain, lavender, sandalwood and honey, the one that smelled so delightfully delicious. She stirred something in him that he couldn't explain and for a moment he wondered if this wasn't the 'interesting thing' that Alice had seen. Regardless it had been a good moment. Emmett wasn't sure much was going through his head in that moment and that felt even more wonderful than the moments when he felt like he was starting to get over the loss of the love of his life.


	2. Chapter 2

Marley Bradford felt like she was an unassuming presence in the halls of Ballard High School. Honestly she felt like she was the most average girl in the whole school. She rarely got a second look from the popular boys at school after all. She seemed to rarely get a second look from most people though, not just the boys. It wasn't that she never went on any dates or never went to any school dances. It was more that the boys that she wound up with were of the average type, which suited Marley just fine.

She was, after all, every inch the average girl, something that her parents would drive home any time Marley seemed to 'stand out' for a moment. She was 'average' and shouldn't try for anything more than what anyone else had. She would never achieve any of her 'wild' dreams so sticking with something 'average' was best. She stood at around 5' 5" and she weighed about 115 lbs, which she recalled her doctor telling her once was average for a girl her age. She had wavy brown hair, the color of milk chocolate, and emerald green eyes. But even then she didn't stand out at school. Mostly she blended in and she liked it that way. She preferred it actually.

There was nothing remarkable about Marley, not in her mind. She didn't take many AP classes and she got Bs in the ones that she did take so she wasn't exceptionally smart although some thought that she had geek-like tendencies. Sometimes she showed promise in art but she never pursued it. The only 'artistic' thing she did was photography but it was something Marley did for her own enjoyment. She didn't share her photos with many people. She played the piano a little but that was something that she tinkered with, not something that she set her mind to doing. The last time she'd taken lessons was when she was ten so Marley was certain that she wasn't that good anymore. She sang too but for herself, not that she thought she had a good voice. Mostly it was a fun way to pass the time while doing chores, not something that she'd consider doing beyond that.

She had friends, like Kendra, who thought that Marley was talented and smart and amazing but it wasn't something that she saw for herself. She seemed to dress in ways that didn't invite attention and almost always had her nose buried in a book. It was easier to walk around unnoticed if one didn't draw attention to oneself. And that was what Marley seemed to set out to do. She had her friends and she felt like she did okay so she saw no reason to draw undue attention to herself. She was happy with the way things were. Wasn't she?

Right now Marley had her nose stuck in a book, some cheesy romance novel, as she wandered the halls. She enjoyed reading so it was typical for her to read and walk to class at the same time. She was on her way to her English class and knew the route by heart. Truth be told, she knew the way to most of the classrooms by heart. She tended to wander from classroom to classroom with her nose in a book and she hadn't to run into anyone yet. Marley kept an ear to what was going on around her and was good at looking up in time to make sure she didn't run into anyone or any thing. Today, however, she just missed running into Emmett Cullen and she hadn't even realized it.

She had thought that someone might have been watching her but Marley dismissed that thought. After all, no one watched her for long. Sometimes she got a glance or two from some of the girls when she wore something fashionable. She got a few glances from some of the boys too but those passed quickly when someone prettier walked by. So if someone had told her that Emmett Cullen watched her walk down the hall, Marley never would have believed them. She was certain that someone like Emmett would never pay attention to a girl like her.

From the moment that the Cullens had arrived at Ballard High School at the start of the school year, from the moment that they'd arrived in Seattle that summer before school started for that matter, they blew her away. The family blew away everyone at school, from the teachers to the other students. Most everyone in the city seemed blown away by the family was well. It was, after all, hard to miss such an attractive group of people even in a city the size of Seattle.

People noticed the Cullens everywhere they went. It was too hard not to notice them. They were utterly beautiful, every one of them. Each looked to Marley like a god or a goddess from another time, totally untouchable and graceful in a way that no human had the right to be. No one seemed to dare to ignore them although most people kept a safe distance from them.

Whether it was at school or at the hospital were Dr. Cullen worked, the family seemed to become 'well known' in a short time. At least Marley thought so. The people around her seemed to sit up and take notice of the family. Slowly the stories started to circulate about them. Gossip seemed to be a favorite activity at school so it wasn't long before Marley, as well as everyone else, had heard 'all about' the Cullens.

It became clear rather quickly that while the children were adopted, there were couples within the family. Marley thought that was odd but she kept her opinions to herself. Some families were odd and she figured that the Cullens were an odd but interesting family. Nothing more, nothing less. She had noticed (as had most of the girls at school) that Emmett was the only one 'uncoupled' and while she wondered why, Marley never asked. She wasn't that outgoing in the first place and she knew there were a dozen girls or more who tried talking to him already. And he blew off each one without any sign of remorse. That made her all the more curious but it made her cautious too. Marley knew that she couldn't handle that kind of rejection so the best way to avoid it was to avoid him.

And that's what she did. Even if they shared a class, she tried not to look at him and tried not to listen to the gossip about him. Actually she did her best to avoid the entire family whenever possible. Although Alice was in one of her classes while Jasper was in another. She saw them but she didn't speak to them, didn't pay attention to what they did. She couldn't ignore them completely but she never went out of her way to pay too much attention. It wasn't always easy but Marley seemed to manage to avoid them for the most part. It seemed best to keep it out of sight and out of mind. It wouldn't do her any good to wind up silently pining over Emmett Cullen, like so many other girls at school.

Still she wondered now and then. It was difficult not to wonder about someone like Emmett Cullen. She was like every other girl at school; she had a crush on the 'hot and mysterious new guy' although she did her best to make sure it never got out of control. She never wanted to get in so deep that it wound up hurting her, which she knew was possible given her wild and vivid imagination. She and Emmett had a couple of classes together and while she promised herself that she wouldn't do it, she did watch him when a class was boring. Sometimes that meant that she looked over at least once to see what Emmett might be doing at any given moment, although she tried her best not to stare.

Marley thought that he looked sad most of the time but she didn't ask why. It did often make her feel a little pang of remorse. It made her want to get up and talk to him but she couldn't bring herself to start a conversation with Emmett and she didn't think he'd care if she did. So she occasionally watched him but mostly she went about her life, dating a little but not too worried about finding a boyfriend unlike a lot of her friends.

Marley wasn't saving herself for Emmett but if she had known that he had been watching her, it would have sent a thrill through her. Somehow it was better that she didn't know.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't until Emmett walked into chemistry class that he realized that she was in this class as well. It made him wonder how long he'd managed to walk past her in the halls or in class without noticing her. He couldn't understand how she had remained invisible all this time but he noticed her now. Emmett stood in the doorway for a moment, watching her before he walked inside. He saw her sitting with her lab partner, her nose in the chemistry book reading the chapter they were currently studying. Emmett immediately recognized her scent and the sweater that she was wearing. To him, it was hard to miss her although somehow Emmett had managed to miss her since the first day of school.

He walked by her as he headed to his table to sit with his lab partner. It was a little 'out of the way' but he didn't care. It wasn't like people didn't think that he was a freak. Edward had mentioned that to Emmett more than once since the start of the school year, that people saw Emmett and thought he was a freak. A scary one at that. So if anyone wanted to think he was even more of a freak for walking down the aisle so he could pass that girl, then so be it. He didn't care.

If he could have, he would have tried to switch with the guy who was sitting with her but Emmett wondered if she might find that weird. He might not have cared what anyone else thought but he didn't want her to think he was a freak. It was odd that he even thought that. He'd never worried about what a human thought of him before but Emmett didn't want this girl to look at him and think he was a freak. He made a mental note to ask Edward later if he could pick up on this girl's thoughts, see what she thought of him. If Edward could, Emmett didn't mind getting that peek inside this girl's head.

If he couldn't sit with her though, he wanted to see if he could catch a little of that scent that she gave off. He tried not to draw attention to himself but as he walked past, Emmett tried to get a good whiff of her. He couldn't read minds but he thought someone had given him an odd look for it. He didn't care because at least she didn't notice what he'd done or if she did, Emmett didn't think she thought anything of it. She smelled so good and while it didn't drive him crazy, it seemed to be a heady aroma that he found intoxicating. He knew it was nothing like what Edward had gone through with Bella or what he'd felt before as well but Emmett knew that there was something about this girl's scent that had his head swimming with some interesting thoughts.

None of which actually included feeding on her.

Emmett sat down at his table, watching her from where he was sitting, which proved to be easy. He just had to turn his head and look across the aisle at her. He hadn't noticed that she was sitting there before but he couldn't stop staring now, even if it gave away the fact that he wasn't human to anyone else in the room. Emmett barely paid any attention to the guy sitting next to him and his lab partner had the good sense not to bother him.

It was during role call that he finally found out her name: Marley Bradford. That made him a little more curious about her. Or to be more honest, it seemed to compound the curiosity he already felt about her and added to the questions he already had floating around in his head as he watched her in class. Now he wanted to know why her parents named her Marley as much as he wanted to know _who_ Marley was. He wasn't sure why he was even this curious about some human but he was. Emmett made a mental note to ask Edward about it since this was the first time he'd ever felt this way. He thought maybe Edward would have some insight on this as well.

When the bell rang to signal the end of class, he wasn't sure that he'd heard a single word their teacher had said after Marley had quietly said 'here' and raised her hand during role call but he didn't care. He wasn't that interested in school for the most part anyway. Emmett felt like he knew everything that he needed to know already and going to high school all over again didn't really interest him. He only went because it helped the family blend in so people wouldn't ask too many questions. He figured that he could borrow someone's notes later though so he wouldn't get too behind since Emmett did know that it was best to keep up appearances and try to pass the classes that he took.

None of that mattered at the moment. He'd taken this class before so it wasn't going to do much damage to his grades if he didn't pay attention during one lesson. Emmett gathered his things quicker than he ever had before, while trying to maintain the charade that he was human, and chased after Marley after she left the room. She was quick for a human but as a vampire, he was quicker … even when he was trying to fake at being human. It didn't take long for him to catch up with her in the hall. He wasn't as fast as Edward but Emmett was still faster than any human and soon he was walking at Marley's side.

"Hey," he said with something resembling a soft smile on his face when she looked at him. It wasn't the smoothest opening line but Emmett wasn't looking to flirt, just ask some questions. He did hope, however, that the smile didn't seem too scary. Emmett didn't regularly talk like this to the humans around him so he was hoping that the tone of his voice and that smile on his face seemed 'human' and non-threatening enough to her.

She looked surprised when she looked up at him and there was a blush to her cheeks. Emmett could hear her pulse racing and it caused him to take a deep breath, which meant drinking in more of that lovely scent she gave off. For a moment he was afraid that he might lose control. He hadn't done that in some time but there was something about that delicious scent of her skin and hair and the sound of her pulse that had Emmett feeling the desire to bite her, to drink the tiniest bit of her blood. He wanted to _taste_ her. He seemed to hold his breath for a moment and told himself that it wouldn't be right, that he couldn't do it. It seemed to be enough to settle his senses.

"Uh, hi," Marley said after an awkward pause. She hugged her books tighter to her chest and seemed to look down at the ground, not making eye contact with Emmett after the initial bit of eye contact that they shared.

He was glad that she wasn't watching him carefully. He was afraid that if she looked at him now, she'd realize what he was and what he was capable of doing. He wasn't thirsty at the moment, there was no indication like that, but Emmett knew that there might be other, more subtle things that she could pick up on that would tip her off. He didn't want to scare her off so he was grateful for her shyness. It did make him wonder though, if he hadn't frightened her somehow. "So Marley, do you want to have lunch with me? I mean sit with me … during lunch," he said, staring at her as he spoke. He didn't have a big sense of personal space but Emmett left Marley with some breathing room. He felt people watching them as they walked but he didn't care. He never worried about what others thought and he wasn't going to start worrying now.

The only time it registered with Emmett as something to worry about was when he became aware that Alice was watching them. He looked over at her with a small frown, shaking his head a bit at his sister, and then he looked back at Marley, waiting for her answer. He'd caught Alice's smile and didn't think that could be a good thing. It was that sort of 'secret' smile that said that she already knew something and that seemed almost frightening to him. Emmett had that almost smile on his lips again when he looked at Marley though. It seemed natural to 'almost' smile at her.

She nervously cleared her throat, blinking a couple of times as she looked at Emmett again. She looked like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. The surprise on her face was rather cute. "Uh, are you sure?" Marley asked, sounding unsure. "I mean, you've never done that kind of thing before, had lunch with someone other than your family or whatever so … a-are you sure?"

Emmett tried not to chuckle at the way Marley answered his question with a question. There was something cute about that. It amused him a bit, the way he had started to think of her. He'd never thought this much about a human before but he did find himself watching Marley carefully, trying to figure out everything he could about her from facial expressions and from any little thing that she might say. He did, however, notice that what she said meant that she had noticed him, that she had been perhaps watching him before now. And there was something about that thought that Emmett seemed to enjoy. A slow grin spread on his face although he wasn't sure why it made him smile so much. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Oh, well then … _yeah_," Marley said, nodding her head quite a bit. She looked up at him and seemed to blush at the sight of his grin. When she blushed, she looked back down at her feet again to avoid looking Emmett in the eyes. "Definitely, yeah." She giggled nervously before biting her lip to stop herself from continuing to giggle. She even sounded nervous and excited. But she, too, couldn't stop smiling.

"Okay, I'm glad. I have to go to English now but I'll see you in the cafeteria after that and we'll grab a table together," Emmett said, nodding and seeing her nod too. He smiled at that, seeing her look excited to spend time with him. Somehow, as he walked away, he felt lighter. He wasn't sure why but he felt good. He figured on avoiding Alice for a while though. Emmett didn't want to know why she was watching him with that smile on her face. He was sure there had to be a reason for it after all. If he avoided her at home, he wouldn't have to hear about what she might have seen. He didn't want whatever was happening right now be influenced by Alice and her visions. He already felt like he had heard too much from her, although Emmett knew Alice had been right.

Today was turning into a very interesting day indeed.


	4. Chapter 4

Marley had spent the last period wondering about what having lunch with Emmett would be like. All she had to go on was what she'd seen when glancing at the Cullens while they sat in the cafeteria. It was rare that she saw any of them eating, although she did notice that they seemed to take a tray of food with them to their table. Sometimes one of them 'nibbled' on something but she couldn't remember any of them eating lunch. That would make sitting with him a little awkward but Marley thought it would be worth it. She'd have to make sure she didn't pig out. She didn't want Emmett thinking she was a binge eater or something. Plus it wasn't like she brought a huge lunch anyway.

She was thinking a little too hard about all of that as she headed to the cafeteria and for the first time she bumped into someone. Typically Marley remained pretty aware of her surroundings, enough that she hadn't ever bumped into someone before, but her mind was preoccupied and it caused her to bump into someone else this time. To her credit, at least Marley had managed to bump into Emmett. She giggled when she looked up and saw him looking down at her as well with this intensity that almost took her breath away. She softly bit her lower lip to stop before she dissolved into a fit of nervous giggles. She had her books and her lunch in a backpack. It was easier to carry everything that way and the school didn't have a rule against it.

She hiked the strap of her backpack up on her shoulder to adjust the weight of it and smiled after she stopped biting her lower lip. She was starting to wonder if she didn't look like an idiot. She was afraid of smiling too much, of saying something stupid so she bit her lower lip again instead. Plus biting her lower lip seemed to stop her from giggling. She didn't want to give Emmett an excuse to back out right now although she felt it was only fair to offer him that option.

"Are you still sure about this?" Marley asked, her tone sweet. All the nervousness was gone, at least from the tone of her voice. Inside, she knew she was all 'butterflies'.

Emmett softly smiled and shrugged. "If you'd rather not, that's okay," he said, glancing inside the cafeteria for a second before his attention was on Marley.

It made her nervous to have his attention on her like this but at the same time she knew that there were so many people watching her right now and that it was a bit exciting. She didn't draw attention like this so knowing that others were watching her with jealousy in their eyes was an unexpected rush. She hadn't expected to feel like that, to feel excited over the idea of other girls being jealous of her. Marley wasn't sure why she felt that way and wasn't sure it was a good thing but she couldn't help the rush she felt in knowing that people were watching her, trying to figure out what was going on with her and Emmett.

"No, I want to do this. I want to sit with you, Emmett. I don't want you to feel stuck sitting with me though," Marley said with a shrug. She didn't want him thinking that she didn't want to sit with him when the opposite was true. She wanted this more than she could put into words. "Once you realize how boring I am, I'm sure you'll never make this mistake again."

Emmett softly chuckled and gently placed a hand on her back, right between her shoulder blades. He gently seemed to guide her inside and Marley let him. She wasn't the type of girl to let a guy guide her around but she moved with him when she felt his hand on her back like that. It was difficult to not let him guide her around. She didn't know why that was but she was willing to follow Emmett anywhere as soon as she felt his hand on her that way. She was watching him more than where she was walking and it seemed like he was doing the same thing. It was odd to have him watching her like that but Marley liked it. She could feel other people's eyes on her as well but she didn't bother anymore to look to see who was looking at them.

Emmett did glance away once to see who was looking at them. Marley noticed that right away, which made her curious and perhaps a little nervous as well. She was tempted to take a peek, see what he might have been looking at but Marley didn't dare stop looking at Emmett. She worried he might disappear if she did and that she'd wake up and realize this was all a dream.

It wasn't long before his attention was on her with a smile on his face. "Did you want to grab something to eat?" Emmett asked, his head cocked to the side and this curious look on his face. He seemed to already start to move them towards the lunch line in case Marley needed to get in line to get something to eat.

"No, I bring my own lunch," Marley said with a shrug, hiking her backpack strap up as she felt it starting to slip. "School food is never very good anyway. I learned early on that packing my own lunch was the smart idea."

Emmett chuckled and found an empty table to sit down, changing their course when she said that she brought her own lunch. He pulled out her chair and she saw him smile brighter when Marley felt her cheeks flush. She wondered what he was thinking when he looked at her like that. She had to stop herself from putting her hands on her cheeks to feel if they did feel as warm as she thought since she figured it meant that she was pretty red right now. She giggled and sat down instead, saying a quiet 'thank you' before setting her backpack on the table so she could dig out her lunch. Emmett sat down and watched her every move. It made her a little self-conscious but she tried to brush that off.


	5. Chapter 5

Emmett smiled at the way Marley got nervous and that soft blush to her cheeks. It didn't seem to him that she was blushing a lot. It was enough to add color to her cheeks, which made her more attractive. That flush did make him think about the blood flowing through her veins, which made him think about the way that blood might taste but Emmett quickly pushed those thoughts aside, focusing instead on how beautiful she was. It wasn't lost on him, after all, that Marley was a beautiful girl.

She was a sweet girl as well, which made sense to him since she smelled so sweet. It seemed only natural that her scent and her personality would match. He wondered if it was her shampoo or body wash or if it was her pheromones. It made sense after all that even her pheromones would have a sweet aroma. It all added up to that fresh rain, lavender, sandalwood and honey scent or that was what he thought.

Emmett tried not to stare. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable, which he figured was something he'd do if he stared too much. He wasn't always as aware of how those things affected the humans around him but Emmett was doing his best to mind his manners with Marley. He never worried much about it before but he found himself making a conscious effort to not smile in a way that might be intimidating and he did everything he could to make sure that he didn't stare or get into her personal space. He didn't want to affect the way that she behaved around him. The last thing Emmett wanted to do was make her uncomfortable, if he could help it. He watched her pull a brown paper bag from her backpack.

Emmett glanced to his right and saw the rest of his family sitting at a table, watching him. There were some looks of confusion but not on Alice's face. She was smiling right at him, looking thrilled about what was going on. He tried to keep from rolling his eyes, especially with the way he saw Alice watching him so intently. Emmett was certain that he would be hearing it when he went home but right now he wasn't concerned.

"So what's up with your name?" he asked with a little smile.

Marley softly laughed. Her bright eyes went wide as she looked at him. It was this sweet, 'deer in the headlights' expression. "Wow. That's pretty straight to the point, huh?" she said as she unwrapped her sandwich. As she spoke, she looked at her food instead of looking at Emmett. "It's, uh, it's kind of silly. My mom's a Bob Marley fan so she decided that it was a good name. My dad got to pick out my middle name."

"What is it?"

Marley was ready to take a bite when Emmett hit her with another question. She paused, setting her sandwich down for a moment. This time she looked at him when she spoke. "It's Grace. My dad was raised in a strict Catholic household but he turned out pretty normal," she said with a laugh and a shrug. "So we all got religious sounding middle names. I lucked out and got a pretty name."

"I like it. Marley Grace." He said her name like he was 'testing it out' and he found he liked the way that it felt to say her name, almost as much as he found himself enjoying the sound of his name coming from her lips.

"So how many siblings do you have?" Emmett kept firing off questions, figuring that she'd let him know when she'd had enough. He wanted to learn whatever he could about her. The easiest way to do that was to ask her as many questions as possible, as quickly as possible. At least until she asked him to stop, which he figured would happen eventually. Everyone, after all, had a breaking point.

"There are two others, one more girl and a boy. My parents wanted a boy so they kept trying until they had one. I'm the middle child. My sister's twenty. She's attending college in California, UC Irvine. My brother's 14 and a freshman here," Marley said with a slight shrug. It seemed like that was all the answer she was going to give to Emmett's question. She took a big bite of her sandwich after that, smiling even as she chewed.

"That must be nice. Having family like that I mean," he said, nodding. It wasn't like Emmett didn't have a family. It wasn't the same kind of family that Marley had. His human family was a distant memory for him. While she didn't know the truth of his situation, Emmett figured that Marley was aware that he was adopted so to speak. He knew the whole school seemed aware that the Cullen 'children' were adopted after all. "What are their names? Are you close?"

Marley opened her bottle of water and took a long drink before speaking. She had finished chewing on a bite before the next questions seemed to come flying out of Emmett's mouth. The drink of water seemed to be a way to 'pause' things for the moment, slow it down again. At least it looked that way to Emmett.

"Whoa now. That's a lot of questions, Emmett," Marley said. She was smiling but it was softer now and there was a look of warning in her eyes, like she was trying to let him know that he was starting to ask too many questions at one time.

"I'm sorry." The look on his face was perhaps 'sheepish', like a little boy who'd gotten caught doing something he shouldn't be. It was a look that some people seemed to find 'endearing' although Emmett didn't do it on purpose. He just felt sorry for asking too many questions too quickly. The look was a little 'new' though. Emmett wasn't sure he even pulled out that look since becoming a vampire although maybe he had. It just felt like something new, something he hadn't done in quite some time.

Marley shook her head now, her smile getting brighter. That look of warning that had been in her eyes seemed fade and was replaced with a relaxed happiness. Her eyes were opened wide and seemed to be full of curiosity and wonder. "It's okay. It's a lot of questions at once. That's kind of overwhelming, you know?"

Emmett slowly nodded, a little cautious now. He was afraid that he might've spooked her and didn't want to make that mistake again. He felt like at some point Marley was going to figure out what he was and she was going to run away from him screaming but while he had this opportunity, Emmett was trying to make the most of it. "Okay, well, whatever you want to tell me is fine."

Marley giggled a little, biting her lower lip as she seemed to figure out what she was going to say. She pulled out a bright pink notebook that had some random doodles and scribbles on the cover. "Maybe you'd rather get my chemistry notes right now. I overheard someone saying that you weren't taking any during class. So I figured that you might need to copy mine," she said with a shrug.

Emmett was grinning and chuckled, pulling her notebook over to him. He flipped through it, admiring her flowery handwriting for a moment before he found the last set of notes, the ones that he'd need. Her handwriting was 'feminine' but easy to read. He appreciated the fact that Marley seemed willing to share her notes with him. He probably could've figured out what the lesson was on his own or could've gotten the notes some other way but knowing that Marley felt willing to share her notes made him feel good. "Thanks," Emmett said with a bright smile, although he made an effort to not 'show' his teeth enough to seem frightening. Then he dug around for a notebook of his own so he could copy these notes down.

Marley smiled, nodding. She was hungry though, wanted to eat so she didn't say anything more. She figured that Emmett wouldn't mind the quiet and he didn't. She took another bite of her sandwich as she watched Emmett copy her notes. It was quiet at the table and a little odd to only have one person at the table eating but they both seemed to find the situation comfortable. It didn't seem awkward between them. On the contrary, it seemed rather … _nice_. It was two people enjoying the company of one another without needing to talk the whole time and it felt comfortable. Emmett liked that and it seemed like Marley liked that as well.


	6. Chapter 6

Marley walked to her car at the end of the school day with a smile on her face. It was a bright smile but not a 'big' one, which wasn't unusual. She usually left school with a smile on her face but today was different. Her best friend had even commented about that earlier although they didn't talk about Marley having lunch with Emmett. It had been a quick chat between classes during which Kendra noted that Marley seemed to be grinning a lot since lunch. Kendra didn't mention much else about lunch though and Marley didn't think to really bring up the whole subject either. Still it didn't change the smile that seemed to have been on her face from the time she and Emmett left the cafeteria.

Usually she smiled because she'd had a good day, a day where she made it to all of her classes on time and didn't walk out at the end of the day with too much homework. A good day was one where she got a chance to spend some time in the dark room during lunch or even right after school, developing some of the pictures that she'd taken earlier that day or over the weekend. A good day usually included taking a few snapshots of various friends and scenery during lunch or between classes and meant that she'd be able to find a good spot to take a few more photographs before she headed home.

Today topped all of that though. Today was better than a day full of amazing photos and good friends and a good book that she had finally finished reading. Today was the best day that Marley had experienced in a long time. Today she was the envy of so many girls, which she knew because she had heard a couple of them talking when they thought she wasn't around to hear it. Today was the day that Emmett Cullen sat with her at lunch and talked with her and treated her like someone that he wouldn't mind being friends with. That was an amazing rush and it put a smile on her face and a bounce in her step as she walked through the parking lot.

She paused at her car door, fumbling a little with her keys. That rush she felt from just thinking of Emmett was so strong that it made it difficult for her to work her fingers enough to get her car keys out and into the lock to unlock her door. It wasn't that she was nervous. Emmett certainly didn't make her that kind of nervous anyway but the rush going through her had her acting like she was. She had to bite her lip to suppress an excited giggle that was threatening to spill out of her if she left it.

Marley looked over her shoulder when she felt someone staring at her. It was an uneasy feeling at first since she didn't know who it could have been but when she saw who it was, she smiled a little more. The looks she got from Jasper and Bella unnerved her a little though. Marley was quite aware that they either didn't like her or were very unsure about her from the way that they watched her.

Suddenly she felt a surge of worry go through her. She didn't like the idea that anyone in Emmett's family wouldn't approve of her.

Edward's face was rather blank until he looked at Bella. Then there was a look on his face that made Marley smile. She thought it was sweet, the way that Edward looked at Bella. It made Marley wish she had someone in her life that looked at her like that too. Alice had a grin on her face that seemed bright and infectious. Marley liked that a lot. It made her almost instantly like Alice.

And Emmett …

The way that he looked at Marley made her heart race and she softly sighed without realizing it. It amazed her that one guy could cause that kind of a reaction in her but he did. She wasn't sure she'd felt a rush like that before when spending time with a boy but she felt it whenever Emmett was near. She felt it when he looked at her. It seemed like he was unaware of that fact though, like he didn't know or didn't care that he could take her breath away like this. Still he smiled at her in a way that was amazing to see.

She waved at Emmett, smiling brightly when he waved back. It wasn't a 'big' wave but she saw it and it made the butterflies in her stomach go crazy. Then with her keys in hand, she unlocked her car door and got in. Marley was trying to keep from giggling and bouncing as she started her car, not that anyone would have heard her. She didn't want to look like some insane person, sitting in her car laughing and bouncing.

She drove past the Cullens, giving Alice and Emmett a nod. Jasper and Bella were still shooting her rather unnerving looks so she quickly looked away from them. Edward was mostly watching Bella but for a brief moment he looked and gave Marley a quick nod and a bit of a smile, which she returned with a smile and a quick nod as well. That smile on her face grew as she turned up her radio a little. Her head started nodding to the beat of the music. Singing along softly, she felt happy and excited and hopeful. Marley just had to hope that tomorrow would be as good of a day as today was.


	7. Chapter 7

When Emmett got home after school, he headed straight for his room, ignoring any of the looks or any of the talk that was starting. There had been a few murmurs in the car but nothing more than that. Because he was there, no one seemed to want to talk about any of it out right. Perhaps because Edward had taken a 'peek' inside Emmett's head and could tell that Emmett didn't want to talk about any of it. Emmett knew that Alice wanted to mention it to him. He could tell that by looking at her but he guessed that Edward warned Alice since she didn't just jump to start asking him questions first thing. The ride home therefore was rather quiet, which suited Emmett just fine, but once they all got out of the car and headed inside, he knew the talking would start.

He heard Bella and Edward talking about 'that girl at school' even if they were trying to keep their voices down as he walked past them. It seemed like Bella wasn't pleased with the situation and Edward was doing his level best to keep her from saying something to Emmett that might not go over well. Emmett found it amusing that Bella, of all people, would seem so disapproving of Marley. It made him shake his head just thinking about it. It wasn't like it was that long ago that Bella had been human herself so Emmett didn't see how she had room to complain about him paying attention to some human girl. Alice tried to stop him to talk but he ignored her as best as he could as he made his way to his room. Right now he needed time to sort out his thoughts. There was too much going on in his head for him to worry about anything anyone else had to say.

He knew, however, that Esme would hear about this, and Carlisle as well, and that would mean talking about it with them but right now Emmett didn't want to talk. He didn't have enough of a handle on his thoughts yet to feel comfortable talking to anyone about the whole situation. Esme and Carlisle weren't home yet so he still had time to avoid the conversation that he knew would be coming.

He didn't know what he would say if he tried talk to anyone at the moment. There would be time for that later, once everyone was home, once he sorted out his own thoughts. Emmett figured there would wind up being some family discussion about Marley later after all. It wasn't like anyone was going to let this drop without trying to sort out what was happening. Right now though he didn't want to think about anything that happened today. He was still trying to process it all.

Emmett had no idea what he was doing anymore. He didn't know why he felt drawn to Marley and now that he stopped to think about it, it scared him. He had never felt that kind of draw to anyone that wasn't Rosalie or anyone that he didn't consider 'food'. He wasn't sure he was over Rosalie either. Emmett, when he sat down and thought about it, didn't know that he would ever 'get over' her. For as much as it hurt to think about her dying, he knew that a part of him still loved her and probably always would. And if he wasn't over Rosalie, how could he give Marley the attention that she deserved? He was, after all, aware of what Marley deserved and in knowing that, it made him wonder if he was being fair to her.

It hurt to think about Rosalie. It brought with it feelings of guilt. Every time he thought about what happened it felt like it was just yesterday that she was killed by those newborns, her body burned. He knew that she wasn't coming back but it didn't change the fact that he thought about her. Emmett knew that he thought about Rosalie often, no matter what kind of pain those thoughts brought with them. It didn't seem right to give anything of himself to Marley if it wasn't 100% and he knew he couldn't give her that.

Emmett sat down and stared out the window in his room. He had a comfortable armchair in his room that faced one of the windows, the one that faced the street out in the front of their house. It made it easier for him to people watch. It was an interesting pastime and it honestly was a good way for Emmett to zone out and not think about anything going on in his own life for awhile. He didn't have to think when he was staring out the window, unless he wanted to come up with stories for the people he saw, but he didn't want to think if he didn't have to right now. Sometimes it was fun, coming up with stories for the humans walking around outside but today he was staring out the window so he could zone out and not think at all for awhile.

There was a knock on his door even though it was opened and Emmett turned his head to see Alice standing there, a smile on her face and one hand on her hip. She looked sweet and pixie like as she looked at him, her head cocked to the side, which made him want to roll his eyes at her since he knew what was coming now that she was standing there. She didn't wait for Emmett to say anything either, just waltzed right in and sat herself down on the couch in his room. "So, Emmett … I noticed that you made a new friend today," Alice said. There wasn't anything unusual to the tone of her voice. It was all said rather plainly but in her cheerful, optimistic tone.

Emmett almost growled at her before he shook his head, sighing softly. He wasn't thinking of Marley as a 'new friend'. In fact, he wasn't sure what was going. He was still trying to process everything and he didn't want Alice and her visions to change anything. He wanted to figure it out on his own although he didn't feel like he was any closer to knowing what he was going to do where Marley was concerned. He knew this was what she was going to do however and while he'd gone out of his way to avoid it, it seemed that Alice was going to bring the discussion to Emmett.

For a moment it crossed his mind that she'd seen this coming, had seen Marley wander into his life and had seen her shake things up, and that Alice was only now coming to tell him but he tried to push that thought out of his head. As it came to him, his mind started to wander, wondering what Alice might have seen, what was inevitably going to happen if he continued on the path he was on. Even if he didn't want her visions affecting anything, he found himself curious although Emmett was going to do his best to get Alice to leave him alone even if she wanted to talk to him right now. "I don't want to talk about it," he said through gritted teeth.

Alice softly smiled and shrugged in a rather indifferent manner. She was watching him intently, almost as if she were trying to stare through to his soul. After a bit, she gave him a smile that was a bit brighter and nodded like she suddenly felt very sure about something. A minute or so after that smile and nod, Alice pushed up off of the couch and seemed to get ready to leave the room. It was like she'd taken the time to take a good look at Emmett's upcoming future and now that she was satisfied she was ready to give him some space. "You will. And she and I are going to be great friends. You'll see," Alice said, smiling as she turned on her heels and left the room without another word.

Emmett did growl once Alice left, fighting the urge to punch something out of frustration. That one little hint about what she'd seen was enough to both excite and frustrate him. She was right about one thing though. He knew that he was going to talk about all of this sooner or later. Emmett didn't want to think about what it all meant or what might happen if he gave Marley a chance to get to him more so than she had already. That was too much for him to process right now.


	8. Chapter 8

Marley had spent more time than she could remember sorting through her closet to try to find something to wear. There were even a few pieces of clothing strewn about from her poking around for the right outfit. It was a Saturday and she didn't have anywhere to go but she felt this urge to make sure that she looked her best. It wasn't that she never took pride in her appearance but today it seemed different. She wasn't sure where these feelings were coming from but she had to admit that she liked it. She felt this energy bubbling up inside her and Marley knew that she couldn't stay home today.

She had to get out and do something or she thought she might explode, which wasn't like her. Marley loved her lazy Saturday afternoons, wandering in the park and taking pictures but that urge to get out and do something was overwhelming. So much so that she called up her best friend to help her find an outfit and so they could figure out what to do for the day. Marley figured that between the two of them they could find the perfect outfit and they could go shopping or hang out somewhere. Not because she wanted to run into Emmett but because she felt that good, that happy today. She felt the need to share it with everyone around her.

Kendra was now sitting on her bed while Marley continued to go through her closet. She was the one who had turned on Marley's (shockingly pink) iPod, which was plugged into the speaker docking bay. It was the first thing that she did when she showed up in the morning actually. She walked over and turned it on, making sure it was on 'shuffle' so the songs came up at random and turning up the volume as soon as the first song started to play. Then Kendra bounced her way to the bed and flopped down on it, giggling.

Kendra's head was currently bobbing to the music, her dark curls bouncing along with the rest of her. Her dark eyes were watching Marley carefully even if she seemed to be in this happy, carefree kind of a mood. Kendra was trying to figure out what her best friend was up to, what had been going on since the other day. It wasn't something they'd talked about much since Marley had had lunch with Emmett at school.

"Okay, so when are you planning on telling me what was going on at lunch yesterday?" she finally asked. Kendra hadn't talked from the moment that she walked into Marley's room but now felt like the right time to ask that question.

Marley was holding up a white cami, which had a thick band of lace on the bottom, and glanced in the full-length mirror on the back of her bedroom door before nodding in approval and tossing it in the general direction of the desk beside her. Then she found a pair of dark rinse jeans and tossed those over there as well. The things she hadn't wanted had wound up in a pile at Marley's feet there at the closet door. She wasn't ignoring her friend though. Marley was too busy trying to figure out what to wear to think about what she was being asked. She pulled out a bright pink and dark gray plaid shirt and smiled, tossing that at her desk as well before getting on her hands and knees to dig out a pair of black boots that she knew she had somewhere in her closet.

Kendra sighed, shaking her head. She knew that she wasn't being ignored so she let it go, knowing that her friend would start to speak to her again once this outfit was picked out. She knew that Marley could get pretty focused about things, to the point of tuning everything else out so she wasn't worried. Kendra walked over and picked up the cami that had landed on the floor. Then she carefully laid out the clothes Marley had picked out before going through the shoebox that Marley used to hold all of her hair accessories. It was wrapped in pink polka dotted gift-wrap and actually looked really cute. Marley was always so crafty which was something her friend was jealous about. Kendra smiled before sitting back on the bed with the box in hand.

"Since when do you worry so much about looking cute on a Saturday anyway?" Kendra absently asked, figuring that if she kept asking questions that Marley would answer something. She was in a pair of dark gray sweatpants and a baggy light gray t-shirt. Suddenly, as she looked at the clothes that Marley had picked out so far, Kendra was feeling very underdressed. "I mean if I would've known, I would've made sure I looked extra cute today too. Now I'm going to have to go home and change clothes. You could've warned me."

Marley pulled out the boots she'd been rummaging around for with a triumphant look, smiling brightly. She hadn't worn them before so they looked brand new even though her parents had gotten them for her a year ago on her birthday. She'd always thought they were cute but never had any use for them, until today. Marley practically bounced as she walked over to the bed and flopped herself down on it, lying back with her arms stretched out as she looked up at the ceiling. "Ohmigod, you won't believe what happened to me yesterday, Kendra. You just won't believe it," she said, her voice getting high-pitched and squeaky with her excitement.

"Yeah, I, along with the whole school, noticed that you had lunch with Emmett Cullen yesterday, Mar. You know the fact that you weren't sitting with me didn't go unnoticed and then, well, it's hard to miss the fact that you were sitting with Emmett freaking Cullen," Kendra said with a little shake of her head, giggling a little bit. It wasn't like something like that went unnoticed by anyone, especially Kendra. "I mean this is the same guy that won't say two words to any other girl in school and he was sitting and talking with you and having lunch. Is that what all this is about?"

Marley sat up and softly sighed. There was a smile plastered to her face and she nodded. "Yeah, I mean I'm not sure I'll see him today but I don't know. I feel pretty now, knowing that he noticed me. We talked a little at lunch and he was so sweet, Kendra. It was so easy to sit there, to be near him," she said, gushing with excitement. She spoke hurriedly and couldn't help but giggle at herself. Even just thinking about Emmett seemed to make Marley's heart race a little bit. "I just … I want to look as pretty as I feel, you know? I feel like if Emmett noticed me, then I'm not all that plain."

"Girl, I've been telling you that since the seventh grade. You're gorgeous, with that skinny waist and all those dangerous curves," she said with a smile, softly laughing and playfully rolling her eyes. "You just spend all your time with your nose in a book and hiding behind all that to show anyone how hot you are."

Marley was blushing and shrugged shyly. Kendra was the only person that thought that highly of her. Her parents didn't think that their daughter was extraordinary but her best friend constantly pointed out all the 'amazing' things about Marley. She had never let it sink in until now. Now though she felt like Kendra was right. Marley didn't know what other reason Emmett would have had to pay attention to her otherwise. It had to be because he had seen through all the stuff that Marley used to hide herself.

"Maybe. I'm worried though that over the weekend he'll realize that he made a mistake, Kendra. And we'll get back to school on Monday and he'll breeze past me and act like he doesn't even see me," Marley softly said. She sighed and was looking down at her hands as she spoke. Part of her knew it was wrong to feel like she'd be 'crushed' by something like that but it didn't change the fact that part of her did feel like it would hurt to go from feeling like someone that Emmett had noticed to being 'invisible' again.

Kendra set aside the box that she'd been digging through and rested her head on Marley's shoulder, giving her best friend a sideways hug. "You're amazing. I've been telling you that forever. Now someone else has noticed it but if he doesn't talk to you again, don't let it get you down, okay, Mar?" she said, looking up now and smiling at her friend, ready to pick up that box again to find the perfect accessories for Marley. She wanted, even more now, to make sure that Marley looked nice today. "Because if Emmett Cullen noticed you, then it's a matter of time before some other stud checks you out and realizes that there's more to you than cheesy romance novels and mousy behavior. You're fierce and it's about time someone else sees that."

Marley giggled softly and shrugged, a big smile on her face now. It always seemed like her friend knew what to say to cheer her up. It didn't take away the nerves but she felt better nonetheless. "So do you want to go to the mall today? Or should we go to a coffee house and see if there's anything cool going on?"

Kendra pursed her lips. Her attention shifted to the box of hair accessories and she pulled out a bright pink headband and laid it with the rest of Marley's outfit. Then she got up and set the box back on the dresser before pulling a couple of silver bangle bracelets and a silver locket out of Marley's jewelry box to add to the outfit as well. "First I need to head home to change because I thought you were going to help me repaint my room today. That can wait though. You want to go out and strut your stuff today so we can go to the mall. We can get our nails done and try on stuff we'll never buy and then swing by Cherry Street Coffee House and see if anything's going on, grab some lunch there. Sound good?" she said as she set the jewelry down. Kendra glanced at the whole outfit and nodded in approval. She thought it was perfect and she knew that Marley was going to look amazing with it all put together.

Marley stood up and took a long look at the outfit laid out on her bed and smiled, glancing over at Kendra with a thankful look on her face. She gave Kendra a big hug once the outfit was put together because Marley knew that she wouldn't have put together an outfit that looked half this good without her best friend's help. More than that she was happy to have Kendra there, to hear her friend tell her that she wasn't crazy right now.

Her smile was a sweet but triumphant smile. If Emmett was out today, he'd definitely notice her. If he wasn't, then everyone else would get a chance to see the brand new Marley Bradford. She was going to be that 'fierce', 'amazing' and 'hot' girl that Kendra seemed to see, that girl that Emmett Cullen seemed to see as well. She wasn't going to hide in the shadows. It was time that she stood up tall and let everyone know that she wasn't going to be that quiet girl anymore.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** As I haven't done it yet, to my knowledge, I'd like to toss some shout outs to the two reviewers that I've had. I want to thank you both for taking the time to review my story and I'd like to personally acknowledge you both. So thank you to both **Genieva was a Diver **and **compa16** for your reviews. I appreciate your kind words about my writing and want you both to know how great it was to find the reviews in my inbox when I went to check my mail. Thank you both so much!

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Kendra and Marley had gone to the mall and had done a lot more window-shopping than actual shopping. Actually that was something the girls seemed to do rather regularly. It was typical for them to head to the mall for a bit and look around, even try on some things here and there without buying much beyond some junk food and maybe a new shirt or pair of jeans or something if there was a really good sale going on. Going to the mall was more of a fun excuse to window shop and people watch than anything else although today they seemed to shop a little more than usual.

They'd even stopped and had gotten their nails done today, which was a special treat for them both. Marley didn't usually get her nails done just because she seemed to break them so often but Kendra had talked her into it today. They both got French tips but Kendra picked some wild color instead of white while Marley stuck with the normal white tips. It seemed to make Marley feel a little more 'girly', which seemed like a plus. There was a See's Candies in the mall, which Marley loved and she made sure she picked up some candy before they left. She couldn't seem to leave the mall without at least a stop at the candy store after all.

She even bought a few things at Wet Seal and Forever 21, which she hadn't been planning on when they'd left. While she loved to go shopping, Marley didn't often have extra money to spend but today she did and so she let Kendra talk her into some extra purchases. She'd always been a simple girl, wearing jeans and t-shirts and sneakers most of the time but she figured it wouldn't hurt to pick up some new clothes while she had the extra money to spend.

Kendra had helped Marley pick out a few shirts and some other things, all sale items because Kendra knew that Marley didn't have a lot of money to spare. She didn't spend a lot, thankfully, but it was more than she was planning on spending. Marley thought it would be nice to have a few new things to wear though. Maybe something would catch Emmett's attention so she wouldn't feel like it was some fluke that he'd spoken to her.

Now they were sitting in the coffee shop, sipping lattes and nibbling on muffins. They'd gorged themselves on fast food at the mall so they weren't hungry but the muffins were good so Marley and Kendra couldn't resist each getting one. They were talking and giggling over the cute barista who had flirted with them when he took their order but as soon as Emmett walked through the door, Marley felt like all the breath left her lungs. She took a deep breath, almost gasping for air in the process and tried to settle her senses because seeing him seemed to make Marley feel dizzy. She chewed on her lower lip nervously and watched him look around as soon as he'd walked in. Her heart skipped a beat when he spotted her and smiled.

"That's Emmett," Kendra said in a hushed but excited tone. There was a little squeak to her voice, even as she whispered. She was trying to not bounce where she sat. "And he's looking right at you. Look at those dimples when that boy smiles. Damn he is _fine_. You, my friend, are one lucky girl."

Marley was blushing and giggled, shaking her head at Kendra. She knew she had to be grinning like an idiot right now though. It couldn't be helped after Emmett smiled at her. "He is. Ohmigod, Kendra, he just smiled at me," she softly said. Her voice sounded squeaky from her excitement as well and Marley giggled softly. "Can you believe it?"

"Believe what?"

Marley jumped at the sound of someone's voice and noticed Kendra looking up, her eyes huge and this smile on her face. She turned her head but she didn't need to since Marley recognized Emmett's voice almost immediately. There was just no way to not recognize that deep, almost husky voice of his. It seemed to match Emmett in every way. She could feel how flushed her cheeks were and she looked up at Emmett and shrugged. "Nothing. So what brings you here?" she asked, trying to sound sweet and flirty at the same time.

Kendra gave Marley a surprised look, which Marley caught out of the corner of her eye. She almost giggled at that but didn't. Instead she tried to focus her attention on Emmett. It seemed best to keep her attention on him because she thought she might dissolve into giggles if she didn't. Marley laughed when Emmett pulled out a chair and sat down at their table without asking to join them. There was something about that behavior that was cute although she didn't know why. If any other guy sat down without being invited, Marley would've been annoyed. But it seemed Emmett could do things that would've normally annoyed her and she found that she didn't mind it one bit. If he knew that, she thought it might be dangerous. Not that Marley expected Emmett to try anything without her permission.

"Nothing really," Emmett said with a little shrug of his shoulders, smiling softly as he watched her. He glanced for a moment at Kendra and then his attention was back on Marley again. "So how are you, Marley?"

Marley tried not to giggle when she heard him saying her name and shrugged. "I'm okay," she said, glancing over at Kendra when she felt her friend kick her under the table. There was a look on her face that said 'ow' and then she realized why Kendra had done it. "Oh, Emmett, this is my best friend, Kendra Wilkins. Kendra, this is Emmett Cullen."

Emmett smiled at Kendra, giving her a polite nod of his head. "Nice to meet you, Kendra," he said, his attention shifting to the pretty black girl before he was looking at Marley. He wasn't trying to be rude but it seemed like Emmett quickly went from acknowledging Kendra's presence to paying attention to Marley.

"Nice to meet you too, Emmett," Kendra quickly said, gently nudging Marley with her elbow and softly giggling.

Marley looked at Kendra and gave her friend a playful eye roll. She did nod though. Even without words, she knew that her best friend was pointing out the fact that Emmett didn't look at Kendra for long before he was staring at Marley again. She'd noticed that too and it made her stomach feel like it was doing somersaults. All that attention from Emmett left her head swimming. She took a sip of her latte to keep herself busy. She didn't want to wind up saying something stupid.

"So what were you up to today?"

Marley smiled at the way Emmett seemed so curious about her and shrugged, trying to seem indifferent although it excited her more than she could say. She felt such a thrill whenever Emmett said her name. She found that she loved the sound of her name coming from his lips. But the sound of his voice in general sent a wonderful rush through Marley. Enough to nearly make her shiver.

"Kendra and I went to the mall mostly to hang out," she said, glancing at her cup for a moment before looking at Emmett. Marley was worried about staring too much although Emmett didn't seem to have that same problem. He stared at her regardless it seemed.

"Yeah? And that was fun?"

Kendra even seemed to laugh at that and nodded. "Yeah, I guess you have to be a girl to get into that, huh?" Kendra said with a shrug of her own, smiling softly. She smiled a little brighter when Emmett looked at her. It seemed like whenever Kendra spoke up, he would look over at her so at least he wasn't ignoring Kendra completely. "We wind up trying stuff on and hang out and walk around together. It's fun."

Marley nodded, smiling pretty brightly. She doubted that Emmett really understood the appeal. "It's probably a girl thing."

Emmett seemed to chuckle and shrugged in this 'whatever' kind of way. Even the look on his face seemed to say 'whatever'. He actually looked like he didn't get it. "Yeah, maybe. I bet my sister Alice would have fun with that though," he said, looking from Kendra to Marley rather quickly. His attention shifted back to Marley quicker than when it drifted over to Kendra for a bit as she spoke. "Did you buy anything or just try on stuff and walk around?"

Marley got a little sheepish look on her face and giggled rather shyly. She was looking at her cup of coffee again, knowing that she was probably blushing pretty fiercely. "Yeah, I did. I, uh, got some candy," she said with a half shrug. It seemed like a pretty stupid thing to admit to buying but since she had gotten candy, Marley didn't see any reason not to tell Emmett that.

Kendra shook her head a little bit at her friend and gave her a nudge with her elbow again. "And I helped Marley pick out a few new things besides that. Plus we got manicures. Another girly thing I suppose."

"Candy, huh? And clothes? And a manicure?"

Marley nodded before taking a sip of her latte. She was tempted to show off her nails but she didn't think Emmett would be that interested. That felt like something another girl might've appreciated but to show off her nails to Emmett made Marley feel silly, although she knew that she'd already said things that made her feel a little stupid for saying it so showing off a manicure was probably no worse than mentioning buying candy. She sipped her latte so she wouldn't have to talk right away though. She even broke off some of her muffin and started chewing it with a bit of a smile. At least if she was eating, it wouldn't be weird if she didn't talk and just nodded in reply.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?"

Marley's eyes got huge when he asked that and she immediately shook her head. It wasn't that he made her uncomfortable, not in the least. It was more that Emmett left her tongue-tied and she often wound up feeling like she was stupid. She was always afraid that she might say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Marley swallowed that bite rather quickly so she could speak again since Emmett looked and sounded a little hurt. The last thing that she wanted to do was to hurt him. It was strange, the feeling that went through her at the thought of hurting him. It actually caused her some physical pain to even consider the idea of Emmett being hurt in any way. Marley didn't know why but she felt like she'd rather die than ever hurt Emmett.

"Oh no, no, not at all," she said, shaking her head rather furiously, a soft smile on her lips. She wanted Emmett to know, with every bit of her being, that he didn't make her uncomfortable at all. She liked having him around actually. She was kind of starting to feel like maybe she needed him around. Without thinking about it, Marley reached out for Emmett's hand. She was just looking to reassure him that everything really was okay. When he pulled it away before she could touch him, she looked confused, cocking her head when she looked at him after having glanced at Emmett's hand. "What did I … What … Is something wrong?"

Emmett cleared his throat and shook his head, looking nervous and confused. And maybe even a little pissed. He looked for a moment at Marley's hand, which was still stretched out a little on the table as if she were still reaching for him. Then he pushed back form the table, standing up as he spoke. He even acted like he was in a rush to get out of there, to get away from her or at least from her touch for some reason or another. "No, Marley, it's just … it's just that … I should probably go now. I just stopped by to get something anyway and my family's waiting for me so …"

"Oh," Marley said, trying not to look heartbroken although she couldn't help but look a bit dejected. She wasn't sure that Emmett noticed though. He seemed to be in such a hurry and she didn't think he was looking at her at the moment. She knew if she wasn't careful, she might tear up so Marley was trying to think of something else, anything that would keep the tears from coming. "Okay. Well, nice seeing you anyway, Emmett. I'll talk to you on Monday I guess."

Emmett just nodded without saying anything before turning on his heels to leave the table. He didn't look at her as he moved, just left without a word. Emmett moved quickly too. Marley was almost surprised by how fast he moved. He didn't head towards the counter though. He headed right for the door without a word and without thinking twice about what he'd just told Marley.

"Wait, didn't he say he came in to get something?"

Marley looked confused but nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

Kendra shook her head a little bit and shrugged. "I don't know. Just weird how he took off then without getting anything while he was here."

Marley realized then that Emmett had left rather quickly but that hadn't taken anything with him. It wasn't like he stopped at another table to get a book or notebook or anything from someone. She looked around and noticed that there were a handful of people from school there but it wasn't like Emmett had stopped at any of their tables to get anything. It made her wonder what Emmett had come in for then.

Most of the kids from school had seemed to take notice of the fact that Emmett had been sitting with her and Kendra for a bit. It wasn't until then that she even noticed that anyone might've been staring. Somehow while Emmett was sitting with them, Marley didn't notice anything other than him. She didn't think about that long though because she was too busy trying to figure out why Emmett had left in such a hurry and why he had lied to her about why he was there and why he had to leave. She sighed when she couldn't seem to figure it out though and shook her head.

"What the hell, Kendra?"

Kendra seemed to sigh then and shook her head as well. "Yeah, that's what I want to know too."


	10. Chapter 10

Emmett quickly left the coffee house, heading straight to his Jeep. He wasn't thinking at the moment, didn't care if he moved too fast. He just had to leave that coffee house, leave behind that dizzying scent. He was barely walking at what could be considered a human pace, not wasting any time getting to his vehicle. He didn't waste any time getting into it either and he didn't seem to care if anyone saw him either. He didn't even look up to see if anyone had spotted him moving so quickly. If they did, then so be it. Emmett really didn't care at the moment. In fact, part of him hoped someone had seen him. He hoped someone questioned if there was something wrong with Emmett. Maybe then they'd say something to Marley and Marley would decide on her own to totally avoid Emmett because he was a freak. Things would be so much easier if Marley was just afraid of Emmett like the other humans around him. Part of him wanted her to look at him and think he was some kind of freak, some kind of weirdo. Maybe then he wouldn't have to worry about things like this.

After starting up his Jeep, Emmett pulled out of the parking spot he'd found earlier and sped out of Seattle as quickly as he could, weaving in and out of traffic without any difficulty. He knew that some of the drivers on the road were probably scared of his driving right now but Emmett wasn't worried about any of that. He just needed to go and he didn't care if he was driving recklessly. The faster he hit the city limits, the better off he'd be. It was the only thing holding Emmett together at the moment, the thought of getting the hell out of Seattle for a bit.

After all, he needed to get out of the city. It wasn't a want. Not in the least. It was clearly a need on Emmett's part to get out of Seattle as quickly as possible. He barely had any focus right now but what little focus he felt like he had was driving him right now, pushing him to leave the city. Emmett had only one purpose at the moment and it was to get as far away from the dizzying presence of Marley Bradford as he could. He was even more confused than he had been at school. It was just too much for him to handle and he felt like getting away was the best option that he had right now. In fact, it felt like it was Emmett's only option right now.

What was he really feeling? What was going on in his head? What was going on in his heart? Could he really feel something for Marley? Was that even possible for him? Could he love someone else like he'd loved Rosalie? Emmett knew that Bella had changed Edward when she came into Edward's life but Emmett didn't see how he could possibly be changed at this point. There was just no way for that to be possible. With Rosalie gone, he didn't think he could care about someone that way again and then Marley walked into his life and Emmett felt like he didn't know what was going on anymore.

He didn't know that he could handle that though. How was he supposed to even care about someone again? After losing Rosalie, it just seemed better to Emmett that he remain alone. He knew that he couldn't handle losing someone else. And Marley was just a fragile human. There was no way he could handle something happening to her. He'd seen all the things that had happened to Bella just because she was with Edward and Emmett wasn't sure he could handle seeing Marley go through anything even remotely like that. Plus he wasn't sure he was even capable of the kind of change that was necessary for him to feel anything for Marley in the first place. But then again …

Emmett growled and pounded his fist against his steering wheel. He was lucky that he didn't break it in the process but he hated that even the thought of Marley could leave him feeling so twisted up inside. On one hand, he wanted her to never take another look at him. On the other hand, Emmett loved the way that it felt when she was around. But maybe, just maybe, if he could get away for even just a day, maybe he could forget all about Marley. Then everything could go back to the way it was before.

With that purpose in mind, he sped out of Seattle and kept going until his Jeep couldn't handle the terrain anymore, which had taken him far but not far enough yet. He needed fresh air, to get away from that dizzying scent that Marley seemed to give off. So Emmett didn't stop once his Jeep ran out of drivable terrain. He parked it there, got out and ran. He ran until he caught the scent of some grizzly bears. That's when Emmett stopped, his mind suddenly focused on the hunt. He hadn't been exceptionally thirsty but once he caught wind of the bears, he realized that he wouldn't mind feeding. Then suddenly there was nothing else on his mind but tracking one of those bears.

The thrill of the hunt was exhilarating and he took a moment to just revel in it. Of course once he caught the bear, he had to wrestle with it. Emmett was never one to just take down his prey. He had to play with his food a bit first, something that often annoyed Edward when they would hunt together although it seemed like Jasper just left Emmett to do whatever he liked without judgment. Emmett just liked to prove that now he was stronger than any bear. It was fun to take it down and wrestle around with the bear until he took it out. And that's exactly what he did.

Emmett, now wearing a rather tattered shirt, wandered back to where he'd left his Jeep. He didn't move quickly but he did head back, figuring that eventually he'd want to head home since it was getting dark and he knew that Esme would be worried about him by now. Once he got home, Alice would give him a talking to about ruining his clothes but he didn't care. He didn't rush to get anywhere at the moment. Now that he'd finished hunting, Marley was back in his head and it made Emmett slow down a bit. For a moment, he had felt exhilarated, free and he wished he could stay in that place, keep those feelings in place of the ones already threatening to take over.

It wasn't that he was trying to figure out what was going on in his head. He didn't think that he'd ever really get a handle on what was going on in his head. It was more that Emmett didn't want to rush back to Seattle because suddenly that city, the whole city, seemed to make him think of Marley. There were reminders everywhere of her and of that dizzying scent she had. Emmett didn't like that loss of control that he felt when he thought of Marley. He didn't like the thought that some human had a hold on him.

It wasn't supposed to work that way. This wasn't how he was supposed to feel about a human. It wasn't how a human was supposed to feel about him either. She was supposed to fear him, she was supposed to run away from him while screaming and he was supposed to see her as his prey. He wasn't supposed to fall in love with her. If 'love' was even what Emmett felt right now. He really wasn't too sure about that. He didn't know what he was feeling actually.

As he walked, Emmett took a swing at the nearest tree out of frustration, knocking it clear to the ground. He stood back, almost glaring at the tree as if he were daring it to try to remain standing right now and watched it fall to the ground, feeling a small piece of satisfaction that he still had some measure of control in his life. He was grinning as he looked at that bit of damage that he'd done.

Emmett knew that he was alone at the moment so he knocked down another tree … and then another. No one could see what he was doing so Emmett didn't worry about how it would look to some passerby. He just knew that it felt good. He continued like that for at least twenty minutes. When he finally felt like things were okay, like he was settled enough to return home, Emmett took off running back to the Jeep.

While he didn't feel entirely clear about what was going on, he felt better about it. Maybe he was crazy but somehow he felt like things weren't as bad as he'd originally thought. Maybe Marley didn't have the kind of control over him that Emmett believed that she had. She couldn't. There was no way some human girl could leave him twisted like that. He'd seen the way Bella had Edward all twisted and Emmett wasn't going to let Marley do that to him. He was stronger than Edward. Wasn't he? He felt like he could resist where his brother hadn't been able to do it. Emmett had to after all. Didn't he? He could keep from giving in to any of the things that Marley made him feel. He didn't belong with a human girl and he doubted that he'd ever love again. It would be better this way.

As he got into his Jeep, Emmett was suddenly grinning again. He felt like things would be okay from now on. Maybe it was crazy for him to think that way but being away from Marley right now, out in the fresh air, Emmett felt like everything would be okay again. Maybe he could go on with his life the way that it was, before Marley seemed to pop up on his radar. Emmett was in control of himself, of his senses and there was just no way that some little human girl was going to change that.


	11. Chapter 11

The rest of the weekend had passed in a complete blur for Marley. And none of it really made any sense to her whatsoever. It was like one day blended into the next, passing so quickly that she couldn't really tell one hour from the next. She was so nervous come Monday morning that she had almost tried to convince her parents that she was too sick to even go to school.

It wasn't that difficult to do either because she nearly threw up that morning after getting dressed for school and barely finished a piece of toast and a glass of orange juice before she left. Nothing really wanted to stay down. Her mother would've agreed to let Marley stay home but Marley seemed to decide last minute that she felt well enough to make it through the day. She promised that if she felt too sick that she'd call to come home early.

Marley ran out of the house in a hurry though. She hadn't bothered to do anything special with her hair, just tied it back in a ponytail, and had tossed on the first thing she found in her closet. She was lucky that it even matched with the way she'd grabbed it out of her closet. It was clean and that was all she was worried about. It didn't feel like any of it mattered so once she'd choked down what little food that she could, she grabbed her backpack and car keys and rushed out the door.

She wasn't in danger of being late for school. Marley just didn't want to be at home any longer. Her mom was starting to ask too many questions about how she was feeling and if she thought she should stay home and rest and Marley just felt the need to get away. She wanted to see her best friend, wanted someone to tell her that it was all going to be okay. Marley drove faster than necessary and got to school sooner than she would've liked but she met Kendra in the parking lot at school and they walked together to their first class. Neither girl really said much though, just quietly walking together. Kendra gave Marley a hug first thing though and a little smile, knowing just by looking at her best friend that Marley was feeling down.

Marley did her best to not look around in the halls for Emmett throughout the morning. It was hard though because part of her wanted to find him and find out what was wrong. She didn't expect that he was going to say two words to her today though. Why would he? Something about the way that he'd acted on Saturday seemed to tell her as much. So when Marley saw Emmett at his locker and tried to say hello, it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would when he ignored her. The pain seemed to lessen when they were in class together and Emmett continued to ignore her. If he would have said hello, Marley knew that it would've gotten her hopes up again so at least him ignoring her made her feel a bit better.

After all how could she be in pain if she didn't matter to Emmett at all? She should've expected this after all. She knew with complete certainty that any heartache she felt was her own fault. She never should've thought that any of it had meant anything in the first place. Emmett wouldn't fall for someone like her. Marley would never fit in with the Cullen family. That just wasn't the way that her story was going to go. She was better off settling for someone else, someone more in her league. That was how things were supposed to be, the natural order of things.

Those thoughts became her mantra as she walked into the lunchroom and headed straight for the table where she saw Kendra and a couple of her other friends sitting. She had her head held high as she passed Emmett and his family. She couldn't ignore them completely however because Edward and Alice had looked her way when she walked into the cafeteria. Marley wasn't going to give Emmett the satisfaction of knowing that he'd hurt her though. It wasn't like it mattered anyway. She had never stood a chance in the first place. That conversation was a fluke and it seemed like everyone around her knew it.

Marley was reminding herself of that fact as she sat down and pulled out her lunch. It wasn't much. She'd packed it before grabbing her breakfast and she'd known that she wasn't going to want to eat. Marley wound up picking at it more than eating it. Her stomach couldn't seem to handle the thought of food at the moment. Too many butterflies and knots for anything to go down other than the bottle of Snapple that she'd brought.

"Are you okay?" Kendra asked. Her voice was nearly a whisper.

Everyone else was so lost in their own conversations that they didn't notice Marley, didn't see that she looked like she was coming undone at the seams. She looked up at her best friend, tears stinging in her eyes although Marley was willing herself not to cry. She nodded, trying to look like things were okay. She needed someone else to believe her because than maybe things would be okay. Maybe if Kendra looked at her and nodded, agreed that things weren't so bad, then Marley could believe it too. She needed to believe that she wasn't losing it, that things weren't as horrible as they seemed. Because things felt pretty horrible on her end.

"You don't look like you're okay," Kendra said, not letting things go with just that nod. It was clear that Marley was on the verge of tears and her best friend wanted to know why. "Are you sure?"

"Why isn't he talking to me? What did I …"

"Stop right there, Mar. I swear if you tell me that you're like this because of him, I'll scream. Seriously," Kendra said through gritted teeth. She sounded as angry about it as she looked. She even had one hand balled in a fist, shaking it a bit like she wanted to punch someone. "You're not going to let him tear you up like this. You're stronger than that. He's just some stupid boy. Trust me."

Marley shook her head a little, hoping that the tears weren't falling without her realizing it. She knew it would be worse if she started to cry so she did her best to blink her tears away. "He's not 'some boy', Kendra," she said, her voice soft and sad. "He's not. He noticed me. He really saw me. How can he treat me like this now?"

Kendra sighed and scooted her chair closer, putting an arm around Marley and squeezing her tight. She looked her best friend in the eyes and softly smiled. "Okay, you're right. Emmett isn't just 'some boy'. I'll give you that much, Mar. He's definitely hot and he is pretty damn awesome actually," she said, trying to make light of the situation right now. She rested her head on Marley's shoulder and gave her friend a little smile, trying to make Marley smile too. "He's not the end of the world though either. And it'll get better. It will. You'll see."

Marley sighed softly and nodded, not that she believed it. It didn't feel like things would get better after all. She took a deep breath before reaching into her backpack though. She had to dig around in one of the pockets but when she found what she was looking for, Marley smiled a little. She got her camera ready, making sure there was film in it and then focused in on Emmett.

Even from where they were sitting, she could get a good shot of him whether he knew she was taking his picture or not. It wouldn't be as amazing as it would've been if she got closer but it would be something. Waiting for the perfect moment, she took his picture. Then she took a couple of more of him with his family before turning the camera on her friends who happily hammed it up for her camera.

Soon Marley was giggling and smiling and snapping pictures until she ran out of film just before the bell rang. Her spirits were lifted and it felt like nothing had ever happened. Like her life was right back on track, just the way that it was before Emmett had ever spoken to her in the first place. She quickly packed up her things with a smile on her face and was headed for the door when someone stopped her. Without really looking, she thought it was Emmett for a moment but soon she realized it was Edward. Marley eyed him for a moment, not sure what he was doing standing there in front of her.

She was the first one to say anything though. That look on his face was almost too much to take. It made her feel like he was looking into her soul or something and it unnerved her. "What did you want?" Marley asked, although it came out snippier than she had intended. Right now, she didn't know how to deal with any of the Cullens.

"My apologies, Marley. I didn't mean to bother you."

Marley sighed and with a roll of her eyes hiked her backpack up on her shoulder. Then she gave Edward a soft, half-smile. She couldn't bring herself to be mad at him. What was happening wasn't his fault after all. It just wasn't easy to smile at any of the Cullens at the moment either. "No, I'm the one that's sorry, Edward. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. So what's up?" This time her voice was softer, friendlier.

"May I walk you to your next class? So we can talk?"

"Oh, yeah. But what about …"

"Don't worry about it. Bella doesn't mind," Edward said with a smile, answering before Marley even finished her question. He led the way out of the cafeteria.

Like with Emmett, she seemed to have no trouble letting Edward guide her around and she didn't understand why that was. She was surprised that he knew what class she had next. It wasn't one that she shared with any of the Cullens and Edward never asked her where she was headed next, just started walking with her in the direction of her class as if he already knew where to go. They walked quietly for a bit and Marley ignored the fact that people were watching her again. She did sigh at it though, not sure why people bothered to stare at her at this point. Who the hell cared if she was walking with Edward Cullen anyway?

"I would like to apologize to you for my brother's behavior. You must understand something about him," Edward said, diving right into the conversation as if they'd been making small talk the whole way so far. "Emmett recently lost someone extremely close to him. She was very dear to him. In fact, he loved her very much, with every bit of his being. You see, he's never one to do things half way. That's not really in Emmett's nature. So he loved her, wholly and completely and it's taken Emmett some time to get his emotions under control after that. It has been quite a difficult time for him. He doesn't seem sure how to … befriend you, Marley. So please forgive Emmett if he doesn't behave just how he should."

"I … But … He …" Marley was at a loss for what to say, unable to form a full sentence as she tried to process this information. She didn't know why Edward had bothered to talk to her and now he was apologizing for Emmett in what seemed like such an unusual way. How could he have known that Emmett had hurt her? Was it written all over her face? She had thought that she was hiding it much better especially after all the pictures she took at lunch. "But I don't understand."

Edward seemed to chuckle, smiling and shrugging. "You have to understand something else though, Marley. Emmett's usually very direct with people. He has never been one to keep things to himself. He says what he thinks without concern for how it might come off to others. Emmett isn't quite sure how to handle this situation however. It's all very new to him so please, be patient with him," he said with another smile, stopping when they reached Marley's classroom door. This time he chuckled a little at some secret thought it seemed, one she couldn't hear and didn't get to know about either. "It should certainly be worth it if you do."

"Oh … Well, I can do that," Marley said, nodding. There was a faint smile turning up the corners of her mouth. She felt a little dizzy right now though, not certain of what was going on. It felt like everything was spinning right now. She had trouble standing upright so she leaned against the nearest wall, trying to catch her breath and slow the wild thoughts turning around in her mind right now. What was Edward trying to say? She wasn't entirely sure.

Marley looked at the floor for a moment, trying to get her thoughts in order, but when she looked up, Edward was gone. She hadn't even heard him walk away. She sighed, feeling more confused than she had before but there was a bit of hope there too. This little bright spot amongst all the darkness she felt. If Edward was right then maybe, just maybe, Emmett liked her and if she gave him a little time, then he might come around. With a soft smile, she headed through the door and found her seat, trying to see all the while if she could decipher what Edward had been trying to really tell her.


	12. Chapter 12

Emmett did a double take when he saw Alice walking out of the school arm in arm with Marley. He could only make out bits of what they were saying but from what he could hear, Emmett didn't like what was going on. He growled softly, looking over at Edward and Bella. Bella rolled her eyes when she saw it but Edward seemed to have a guilty look on his face. Emmett growled again. He didn't have to be a mind reader to know that something was going on. He moved closer to his brother. Emmett wanted to know what was going on and he wanted to know now. He knew Edward already heard it in his thoughts. It wasn't like he was 'being quiet' about what he was thinking or anything. Plus he knew his brother well enough to know that Edward would be trying to hear Emmett's thoughts in the first place. It wasn't like Edward stayed out of everyone's heads very often. Emmett knew Edward would hear the anger that was there as well and he hoped it would be enough to get his brother talking.

"Where are they going?" he asked, even though he knew that he didn't have to say it out loud. Edward already knew what Emmett wanted to know after all. His voice, however, was a low and menacing growl more than anything else. He was trying to do all that he could to intimidate Edward. Emmett had his eyes narrowed, giving Edward his best pissed off look right now, which wasn't hard since he was beyond pissed at the moment.

"Well Jasper and Alice are going to follow Marley home right now so that she can drop off her car before they go …"

Emmett didn't wait for Edward to finish. He could feel his anger growing and he was lashing out at his brother because of it. Not that Emmett really cared who he was lashing out at right now. It didn't matter at this point since he felt like they were all to blame. They just couldn't seem to leave well enough alone. "Before they go where?"

Edward sighed softly, closing his eyes for a moment, and gave Emmett a shrug once his eyes were opened again. It wasn't like everyone expected Emmett to be happy about what Alice was trying to do right now. This was something that they were all expecting after all. "Alice has decided that if you won't speak to Marley right now, then it's her duty to do whatever possible to befriend her until such a time that you come to your senses," he said with a soft smile, using Alice's own words to explain what was going on at the moment. "She swears that it'll make things easier later."

"I told you all that I'm not interested in Marley. Alice needs to leave it the hell alone. You all need to leave it alone," Emmett said through gritted teeth. His voice was deeper, almost a growl. He was so angry right now that Alice would go behind his back like this. He didn't understand why anyone was making a big deal out of any of this. Emmett could've cared less if Alice thought she was doing the right thing or not. He didn't care about what stupid vision she had that made Alice think that this was a good idea. Emmett just wanted his family to leave Marley alone. Nothing was going to happen.

"I don't think Alice has it in mind to 'leave it alone', Emmett," Edward said with a soft smile. He was happy to be a part of the plan that would hopefully bring Marley and Emmett closer together in the end. He did understand how a vampire could fall in love with a human and Edward did want to be a part of anything that could bring his brother even a small measure of happiness again. Even if Bella didn't see why they were bothering in the first place. He had tried to understand why Bella wasn't happy about any of this but there was just no sorting it out.

Edward hoped that Bella would come around though because it seemed like Alice was very certain that Marley was going to be a part of the Cullen family at some point and so far Alice had never been wrong with her visions. Edward knew that Emmett was mad at him for it but he also knew that it was the right thing to do. It was how things were supposed to go. Marley deserved more consideration than his brother was showing her. The look on his face was enough to tell Emmett that Edward didn't care who was mad at him for what he'd done. "In fact, she had me talk to Marley as well today," Edward said, nodding.

"Can't everyone just let it go? It's not like I ever wanted her in the first place," Emmett said, growling a little. In fact, he was almost shaking. He knew he might've been fighting about this more than necessary but he didn't want anyone meddling in any of this. It was so stupid for them to be getting in the middle of something that Emmett didn't see as an issue anymore. He stormed over to the car and had to be careful not to rip the door off its hinges because he knew that he might if he wasn't careful. He wished everyone would back off and let it be. Emmett didn't need Alice or Edward starting anything, getting Marley's hopes up for any reason.

"They're just trying to help," Bella said with a soft sigh. She sounded reluctant to admit that although from the way that she looked at Edward, she knew that it was true. Part of her recalled what it had been like for her and Edward and Bella did want Marley to be happy. She wanted Emmett to be happy as well.

"You … you haven't been yourself for awhile now, Emmett. After you talked to Marley for the first time, well, you were more 'you' than I can remember you being since ..." She paused long enough to sigh and shrug, not sure that finishing that sentence would help matters at the moment. She didn't want to mention Rosalie's name because it might just set Emmett off all over again. "Well in awhile anyway." Bella shrugged again and gave him a small smile. Emmett was already more than upset and she didn't want to upset him anymore than that. "Just let them try. Please? If Alice thinks this is a good idea, how can you go against that? I mean she was right about me, wasn't she? Maybe she's right about Marley too. Maybe this really could be a good thing."

Emmett growled again and got into the car, waiting for Bella and Edward to follow. He slammed the door closed behind himself, not worried about whether or not he broke the car at this point. He was done arguing about all of this right now. Emmett was done with the whole conversation. It didn't matter anyway and it wasn't like he was going to talk anyone out of whatever plan they had going right now. It wasn't long before Bella and Edward got into the car as well and he had to roll his eyes when Edward took Bella's hand, when he leaned in to kiss her softly. Emmett looked away then, not wanting to watch any 'lovey' moments right now and somehow his gaze seemed to find Marley.

She was smiling, seemed happy. Emmett felt his mouth start to curl up in a smile just from knowing that Marley was happy right now. It had been weird but it had hurt him to see her upset today, not that he'd tell anyone else that. There was also this strange twinge of guilt because he knew that he'd hurt her and he wished that he were the reason that Marley was smiling right now. It didn't take long for him to shake off those thoughts however, just watching Marley for the moment. Alice and Jasper were at her car, talking with her. Jasper had parked Alice's car closer to Marley's and he was leaning on it, Alice in his arms as they talked. Emmett had this gnawing feeling inside that he couldn't place. It was like nothing that Emmett had ever felt before and he didn't understand it. He didn't understand how Marley could make him feel anything, let alone how she could make him feel things like this.

"You know, Emmett, if you stop fighting it, it gets easier. I would know," Edward said, trying not to smile or chuckle although the look on his face made it clear that he wanted to at least smile. It was clear that Edward knew what was going on in Emmett's head from that one statement and that was, of course, why he had said it.

"Get the hell out of my head, Edward," Emmett said, almost growling the words. Maybe his thoughts had been louder than he would've liked but that didn't give Edward the right to listen to them. They were his thoughts, private thoughts that Edward didn't need to be privy to. Emmett's attention shifted quickly though. He was staring straight ahead, not really seeing anything. He was trying to keep his mind blank in an effort to keep Edward out of his head. Emmett's arms were folded across his chest and he had that stubborn look in his eyes.

"You're being such a baby," Bella said, rolling her eyes. There was both annoyance and a touch of laughter in her voice. She was a bit amused by all of this. She might not have liked Marley but she did think that Emmett was being stupid about everything. If Emmett loved Marley, then he loved her. There was nothing else to it. It really was that simple to Bella.

Edward shook his head a little at Bella, although there was a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He kissed her hand and started to pull out of the parking lot, still holding onto her hand as he drove. Emmett growled when Edward drove past Marley, Alice and Jasper, although that was actually very unnecessary. They could've gotten out of the parking lot without having to pass them right now. He looked straight ahead but saw that Edward and Bella both waved to them. They even smiled, which made Emmett growl again, louder this time. He knew that Edward had driven that way on purpose after all.

"Why can't you all leave it alone? Is it so hard to believe that I don't want anything to do with some little human girl? Whatever you think you're doing, it's not going to work," Emmett stubbornly said, his arms still folded across his chest as he stared out the windshield, looking at nothing again.

"That would be because of all the thoughts you seem to have of this 'little human girl'. It would be because of the way you react when anyone mentions her," Edward said with a chuckle, driving without watching the road that much. It wasn't like he needed to watch the road when he could hear the thoughts of every driver on the road around him. "I know it's not easy, Emmett, but it does get easier if you allow it. You deserve to be happy."

"I AM happy," Emmett said, his voice low and deep. It took on that dangerous edge. Once he was out of this car, he was going to punch Edward. Of course, that wouldn't work now because he knew his brother had heard the thought already but it didn't stop Emmett from smiling as he pictured punching Edward right in his face. "Just let it go."

"Yeah, you sound really happy, Emmett," Bella said, rolling her eyes. She was looking back at Emmett, shaking her head a bit. "Why can't you just admit that you like her and get it over with? You know everyone will let it go if you admit that you like this girl."

Emmett growled again, looking out the windshield again. Maybe if he ignored them long enough, they'd decide to let it go. In fact, he was holding onto hope that this would all blow over. Maybe something horrific would happen while Marley was out with Alice and Jasper and it would cause Marley to run away screaming. Maybe then she wouldn't look at him and he wouldn't have to be torn up inside by that sadness in her eyes. It wasn't like he cared. At least that's what Emmett kept telling himself. If Marley was crazy enough to form some kind of stupid attachment to him, well, that was too bad for her. Wasn't it? He didn't care what happened to her. She was just some fragile, little human girl. She didn't mean anything to him.

The funny thing was that for as much as Emmett tried to convince himself otherwise, he knew that that he did worry about her. It had torn him up inside to see her in class, that look of pure heartbreak in her eyes. It had killed him to not talk to her when he saw her in the halls at school. And Emmett knew he felt insanely jealous of the easy way that it seemed Marley and Alice were able to talk. It wasn't fair that it should be so easy for them to get along. It wasn't supposed to work that way. Marley was supposed to think Alice was weird, enough to stay away from her. That way there would be no reason for Marley to have any ties to any of the Cullens. And if she didn't have any ties to them, then Emmett didn't have to feel bad if he never spoke to her again.

He growled when he looked at Edward's reflection in the rearview mirror. He could see his brother's eyes on him from that mirror. Emmett could even see that little smile on Edward's lips. It wasn't a full smile but it was enough to irk the hell out of Emmett right now. "Damn it, Edward. Stay the hell out of my head," he muttered under his breath, that edge of anger in his voice. He really hated his brother right now. The last thing he needed was someone in his head, trying to analyze every little thought.


	13. Chapter 13

Marley had quickly popped into the house to let her parents know that she was going somewhere with a friend from school and that she'd be late for dinner. She knew that her parents would at least want to know that much anyway. She didn't know how long they'd be gone so she went the safe route and told her parents not to wait to have dinner. Marley had a feeling that Alice was going to keep her out for quite some time so it was better to be safe than sorry. She dropped off her backpack at the front door and by the time she was out the door again, Alice and Jasper were waiting in their car. It was actually cute to see Alice and Jasper together. They made the cutest couple.

Alice had the biggest grin on her face and waved Marley over right away. That smile truly was infectious because soon Marley felt happy, like something good was going to happen for a change. She thought she deserved happiness for a change though. She had been feeling sorry for herself for far too long and it was time that Marley let herself have some fun.

She got into the car without a word and relaxed as Jasper drove them so she and Alice could go shopping. Alice turned up the radio, glancing back at Marley. Marley smiled and started to bob her head to the music a little. She liked this station and was soon tuning out everything but the music, humming quietly along without even thinking about it. The drive seemed to rush by and before she knew it, they'd arrived at the mall.

Marley was surprised when they pulled up to Westfield Southcenter Shopping Center. It wasn't where she usually shopped. She was used to going to Northgate Mall with Kendra. There were stores in Southcenter that she didn't think she could afford to even window shop in actually. She'd been to this mall before just to walk around a little and while it had some great stores, there was no way she could afford to shop there. Not really. It was the kind of mall that she and Kendra went to when they just wanted to walk around for awhile and look at pretty things because neither girl had the money to afford most of the stores in there.

Maybe she could get some things at Forever 21, Wet Seal or Charlotte Russe. She knew there was a Bath & Body Works and a Borders in the mall too so she'd want to stop there. She might even stop in Claire's or something for some accessories. Other than that though, Marley wasn't sure she could afford much at this mall. There were too many expensive stores that she knew she couldn't afford at all. Although she was happy to hang out while Alice shopped. She'd done that with Kendra before when her friend had money to spend and Marley didn't have much at all. That was usually fun too, especially when she could try on a few things, even if she never bought anything.

"Alice, I can't … I mean we can look for you, obviously, but I know I can't afford anything …"

"Don't you worry about a thing," Alice said with a smile and a nod, hooking her arms with Marley after they'd gotten out of the car. They headed for the entrance while Jasper parked the car since he'd dropped them off right at one of the entrances. "I don't mind buying you something if you really like it."

Marley knew the Cullens had money but she didn't feel right having Alice buy her things. Still she nodded as if she was agreeing to it. It seemed easier to agree than to argue with Alice. Of course from the excited smile on her face and the way Alice started to really bounce around, Marley wondered if she'd made a serious mistake. The last thing she wanted to do was explain to her parents why she was coming home with bags and bags of things from various stores. Still she found herself getting caught up in the excitement, following Alice into the mall.

Alice took off the sunglasses that she'd been wearing as they walked through the door. She didn't even look at the directory. It was like she'd been her so many times before. Alice started to lead Marley right to a Starbucks. Not that Marley minded. A mocha sounded really good right now. And somehow she got the feeling that the caffeine wouldn't be a bad idea either. Marley would probably need all the energy she could muster to go shopping with Alice. It definitely seemed like Alice was going to have them running around the mall, checking out every store they could.

"I can't let you do that, Alice," Marley said, shaking her head. "I can't just let you buy me things. It … It wouldn't be right. I wouldn't feel right about it."

Alice made a little face at Marley and shook her head. "You have to let me buy you a few things. I promise I won't go overboard," she said with a little nod. She even put her hands up as if to prove that she wasn't lying. "Not much anyway." Alice giggled a little then and shifted them so they were standing in line now. "I buy things for everyone though. It's really not that big of a deal."

"You buy things for your family. I'm not family." Marley stepped forward as the line moved but she looked over at Alice as she spoke. She really didn't see where it would be right to let Alice buy her things today.

"You're practically family. Or … well … you should be," Alice said with a shrug, smiling. The look on her face was the kind of look one might see if they had a secret or something. "Don't worry about it, okay? Just have fun with this."

Marley sighed, thinking it over. She was finding it hard not to see this all as a good thing. It wouldn't be so terrible to let Alice buy her a few things after all. It wasn't like she'd let Alice spend that much money on her and Marley had some money of her own so she could buy some things herself too. It really wouldn't be that bad. Plus shopping, even just window shopping, was always fun in her opinion. It wouldn't hurt to let Alice buy her some shoes or something if Alice insisted. Finally Marley gave Alice a smile and a nod.

She didn't have time to say much before it was her turn to order. After ordering a mocha, she looked to see what Alice or Jasper would get. Jasper was, after all, walking with them right now. After parking the car, he headed straight over to them. When neither of them got anything, Marley shrugged and paid with the Starbucks gift card she'd gotten from her grandmother for Christmas. In fact, she had a few gift cards from birthdays and Christmases past that she could probably put to use today.

After picking up her drink, Marley took a cautious sip. The bad thing about a hot drink was that they often made it too hot. She'd have to wait awhile to take a sip but she couldn't help herself. Marley had to try anyway. She made a face when she burned the tip of her tongue a bit and laughed when it seemed like Alice was giggling at her for it.

"Okay, so if we're going to do this, you have to understand something. I can buy some things myself. You don't have to buy me everything. Just because I think something's cute doesn't mean I have to have it," Marley said. She held up her hand when Alice seemed ready to counter with an argument of her own. "I have some cash and some gift cards so let me spend some of my own money too. Please, Alice? Don't go overboard with how much you spend either. I'm a simple girl. I don't need fancy things. In fact, I don't think there's any reason in the world that I'll ever need an expensive purse or shoes or dress or anything like that. Just promise me that you'll try to follow those rules, okay?"

Alice seemed to make a face at the 'rules'. Then after a moment, she smiled and nodded. It was that secret smile again. The one that made Marley feel like Alice knew something that she wasn't sharing with anyone else. There was something about the look on Jasper's face too that made Marley feel like she was being left out of the loop intentionally. Before Marley could ask any questions though, Alice was steering them towards the Oakley store.

They looked around a bit, mostly with Alice handing Marley sunglasses to try on. Marley spent a lot of time giggling at Alice but she tried on every pair of sunglasses before Alice decided to just buy her four different pairs without even asking Marley if she wanted them. Alice even got herself two new pairs of sunglasses and some for Jasper, Emmett and Bella. Marley had to admit that she was surprised when Alice didn't even look at the prices or bat an eye at the total when they got ready to pay. Then again with the kind of money the Cullen's seemed to have, it made sense that Alice wouldn't worry about something so 'trivial' as the prices.

It didn't seem much like Alice had a game plan with the mall. They wandered a little, stopping whenever she seemed to feel like it. Alice seemed to pull Marley into a store on a whim. After stopping at the Lucky Brand Jeans store, the Guess? store, the Fossil store, Express and the Coach store, Marley started to argue about all this money that Alice seemed so willing to spend on her. It hadn't been a big deal after leaving the first store or the second but after a few more, she started to feel like she was taking advantage of Alice and that was the last thing that she wanted to do. Marley didn't want Alice to think that she was using her to get nice things. That was the last thing that Marley wanted actually.

She would've happily taken everything that Alice got her back to return it all but Alice kept insisting every time. At the time she let herself get talked into getting all these new clothes and shoes and such. Now Marley wasn't so sure. She was feeling a little guilty about everything that Alice had bought for her. She really was just a simple girl. She didn't need any of the designer things that Alice seemed to want to buy for her. She would've been happy just going to Delia's and Wet Seal or something but Alice kept steering them towards the more expensive stores in the mall.

"I really don't think this is a good idea. I mean, you've spent way too much money on me, Alice," she said, shaking her head a little bit.

Alice just laughed and gave a wave of her hand to dismiss the idea. "Why don't we stop so you can get something to eat?" she said instead, smiling and hooking her arm with Marley's to start to lead her towards a restaurant.

"Well what about you and Jasper?" Marley asked, looking from Alice to Jasper. Neither of them seemed interested in stopping to eat and she just wondered why that was.

"Don't worry about us, silly," Alice said with a grin. She was almost skipping over towards a restaurant. "There are a few things that I want to pick up. Besides that, well, we … already ate. But you should eat. I don't want you getting sick because you didn't eat anything. We'll be right back to get you. Okay?"

Marley felt confused at first but once she could smell some of the food at the Rainforest Café, she gave up on arguing. She really did need to eat something after all. Marley hadn't eaten much at lunch after all and after running on mostly caffeine since they got to the mall, she knew that she should eat some real food. She even felt her stomach rumble a little to let her know that she needed to grab something to eat. She nodded and went with Alice to get a table.

While Alice told them to get a table for three, it wasn't long before Alice and Jasper left Marley at the table alone. It felt a little awkward but she figured that they didn't want to sit and watch her eat. While she scanned the menu, she started to wonder a little what Alice might be up to at the moment. Marley didn't know why she figured that Alice was up to something but it seemed likely that Alice was up to something and that was why she wasn't stopping to eat too.

When the waitress came by and asked about the others at the table, Marley shrugged and said that she'd order without them and that if they wanted something, they would order food later. She was hungry so she ordered an appetizer to start, the Lava Nachos, and got a soda. When the waitress went to put in the order, Marley looked around to see if Alice or Jasper were on their way back. She pursed her lips a little when she didn't see them and looked over the menu again. She had just decided to get a guacamole burger when Alice came wandering back over. She didn't have any bags in her hands but that didn't mean anything.

"Where's Jasper?"

Alice smiled and shrugged. "He went to the car to drop off the bags. This way we're not carrying them around all day. So did you get to order yet?"

As Alice said that, the waitress came with the nachos. She asked if Alice wanted anything but all she ordered was a soda for herself and one for Jasper as well. Marley ordered her burger and started to pick at the nachos while she waited. Soon Jasper came to the table and sat down next to Alice. Marley tried to get a read on what was going on but it was so hard to tell with Jasper and Alice. They were so good at hiding whatever it was that was going on with them. It was a little annoying but it wasn't like Marley was great at reading people in the first place. She just wished that she was in on whatever it was that was going on. She still felt so out of the loop.

"So what did you have to go and get?" Marley asked, trying to make sure that she didn't talk with her mouth full. She was mostly trying to make conversation but she thought that maybe Alice would tell her something for once that wouldn't leave her feeling like she had no idea what was going on.

Alice just smiled again and shrugged, waving off the question like it was nothing. "I just stopped at Victoria's Secret to get a few things. While I was there, I got you some things too. I didn't think you'd want to stop there with me. Don't worry though. I'm pretty sure that I got your size right," she said, her smile growing a little. It was one of those 'secret' smiles though, like she was hiding something.

Marley sighed and shrugged this time. She didn't think there was any arguing with Alice. It wasn't like she wore anything from Victoria's Secret. There were some pajamas from the Pink collection that she liked but Marley wasn't a Victoria's Secret kind of girl. She wondered what Alice would've even gotten her there but she was too afraid to ask so she just left it at that. "Okay, sure," she said with a little nod. She noticed that Jasper and Alice both picked at the nachos but Marley wasn't sure they ate much at all. Then again Alice had said that they'd eaten so Marley didn't worry too much about it.

After eating, Marley complained that she was too full and too tired to walk around the mall anymore. Alice, of course, warned Marley that if she didn't, she'd leave Marley sitting somewhere and come back with way more stuff than Marley would've liked. Not that Alice would listen when Marley asked her not to get things but it didn't take much more than that to convince her that she should suck it up and go with Alice. It would mean that she could at least veto a little of what Alice wanted to try to get her. Their first stop was Bebe and then they headed to Cache and Aldo. After a quick stop at the Godiva Chocolatier shop, Alice finally asked Marley where she wanted to go. All the stores they'd gone to so far had been Alice's choice so Marley had no idea. She had to get them to stop at the nearest mall map to see what was around.

"I guess … maybe we could stop at Forever 21? I kind of like some of the stuff in there," Marley said, more asking Alice if it was okay than actually telling Alice that was where she wanted to go right now. She didn't want to be pushy after all and she didn't know if Alice was picky about where they shopped.

Alice never actually answered that question. Instead she grinned, nodded and hooked her arm with Marley's to head to Forever 21. After checking out Wet Seal, Delia's, Claire's, Charlotte Russe, American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch, Aeopostale and Aerie as well, she pulled Marley off to H&M, Nordstrom and Macy's. By then she had learned that arguing with Alice was completely a hopeless cause.

She did feel bad for Jasper though because he was following them around and often had to run back to the car to drop off bags when the girls started to get too many to carry around. And with Alice, that seemed to mean that Jasper was making a trip to the car between stores.

A lot.

Not that he seemed to mind. But Marley felt bad about it and before they stopped into another store, she stopped to tell him that she appreciated what he was doing. It was more than she really expected today but she was having a good time and she was glad that Jasper was there too.

"Thank you, Jasper. For taking our bags back to the car and all of that. I know that I can't exactly tell Alice thank you because she'll wave it off like it's no big deal but I wanted to thank one of you for all this," she said with a little smile, nodding her head a little bit. "This has been nice."

Jasper gave Marley a soft smile and nodded almost as if he was tipping his hat to her, if he had been wearing one. "You're very welcome, Marley. It's been my pleasure," he said with another nod of his head. Then his attention shifted back to Alice who was already trying to drag Marley into Sephora. It was clear that he'd do anything to make Alice happy and that he didn't mind this right now. In fact, in his own way, Jasper seemed to be enjoying himself.

"You're a force of nature, Alice," Marley said with a laugh when Alice came out to join them. She blushed and giggled a little when Jasper even laughed at that.

Alice 'eh'ed and shrugged her shoulders with a smile. "It's been said before," she said in a kind of dismissive tone as if she really had heard that line before. "After all this we can stop wherever you want again, Marley. Just let me know if you're hungry again and we can stop for something to eat. I don't know if you want to eat again yet or not though."

Marley hadn't noticed the time but she could tell it was late. Much later than she thought she'd be actually. "Oh my god, Alice! Are you planning on keeping me out until the mall closes or something?" she said after she checked the time.

Alice rolled her eyes a little and started picking out makeup for Marley. "You're going to love all this stuff. I know you don't usually wear a lot of makeup, not that you need to. You're so naturally beautiful already," Alice said, not bothering to answer Marley's question. She started to lead Marley over to some of the Urban Decay makeup as she spoke. "But I know this is all going to look so amazing on you. I can give you some pointers on doing your makeup if you want."

Marley sighed and rolled her eyes now but she was smiling softly, looking around a little bit. She was a girly girl, enough that she appreciated looking around in a store like this. Maybe she didn't wear a lot of makeup but Marley did like makeup as much as the next girl. She loved putting on a little makeup and going out or giving her best friend a makeover now and then. It was fun. "I wouldn't mind if you wanted to some time. Kendra and I give each other makeovers some time actually," she said with a little nod.

"Oh! Let me get some things for her too. We can have a sleepover some time and stay up all night talking and giving each other makeovers. It'll be so much fun. You'll see." Alice got so excited at the thought, clapping a little and starting to pick out even more makeup than she had started out picking out before.

Marley laughed, shaking her head a little. She looked at Jasper who was just smiling right now. It was that secret smile but this time it seemed to be directed to Marley. It was as if he was saying 'yes, that's right, there's just no saying no to Alice so don't even try', which was something she had figured out several stores ago. She giggled and nodded a bit before following Alice around the store to help pick some things out.


	14. Chapter 14

Marley, Alice and Jasper had managed to squeeze in Bath and Body Works and Borders before the mall closed. She was surprised by that actually since Marley had figured that there was no way that they'd get in all those stores in the time they had afterschool but Alice made it work somehow. She was surprised when Jasper and Alice helped her carry in all her bags from the mall though. Marley hadn't realized how 'overboard' Alice had gone. At least not until they were hefting all the bags to her front door.

"I still think that we should take some of this back," Marley said, shaking her head a little bit. This was just too much and she really didn't know how Alice had been able to convince her to get all of this stuff. "I really don't need all this, Alice." Marly had at least eight bags in her hands and there were at least a couple dozen more that Alice and Jasper had as well.

Alice made a face and shook her head at that though, following Marley into the house and up the stairs to her room. "You're keeping all of it, Marley. You deserve it. Besides I know you wanted all of it. Please just keep it," she said with a little nod that seemed to say that it was final and that there would be no more arguing or talking about it.

Marley sighed and shook her head but led Alice and Jasper to her room. She tossed her bags on the floor and smiled as Alice and Jasper set theirs down as well. "Did you guys want to sit? Stay for a bit?" she asked, excited at the prospect of Alice maybe being a new friend. Jasper seemed nice too, once she got a chance to get to know him a bit better.

Alice and Jasper exchanged a look and then shook their heads. "We're going to head home but I'll see you at school, Marley. Promise me that you'll wear something that I got you today when you go to school tomorrow," Alice said, moving closer to give Marley a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek.

With a giggle, she nodded and walked them out. Her parents were in the living room, watching TV and not paying much attention to Marley at all. For a moment, her mother stopped her in the kitchen though. There was some talk about the 'strange girl' that Marley had come in with and all those bags that they'd brought in. Marley had blown it off with a shrug and telling her mom that it was nothing. The truth was that she didn't know how to explain what was going on. Everything was so crazy right now but her mom let it go and Marley grabbed the phone after filling the tea kettle with water and setting it on the stove to boil.

After a quick call to Kendra, she was getting two mugs together and she'd even cut two brownies for them. She wanted to show Kendra all the cool things that she'd gotten at the mall after all. Marley knew that if anyone would be able to appreciate it, it would be Kendra. In fact, she knew that her best friend was going to have a lot of questions on top of that although she had no idea how she was going to answer those questions. Marley didn't know what was going on with Emmett or what was going on with Alice. None of it made a lot of sense at this point actually. All that Marley knew was that something was going on and one day it was going to make sense to her.

Marley was all ready for her when Kendra walked into the kitchen. Her mother had let Kendra in as soon as she showed up and Kendra headed straight for the kitchen. It was amazing how well the girls knew each other. Marley was smiling and handed her best friend a mug of tea before sitting down for a moment in the kitchen. They'd head upstairs eventually and then Marley could show Kendra all the clothes and things that she'd gotten at the mall. She was nervous about that though. She didn't like the idea that Kendra might be upset by all the things she let Alice buy her or that she had spent all that time with Alice.

"I heard you left with a couple of the Cullens after school. What happened?" Kendra said as she sat down, taking a careful sip of her tea.

"Alice and her boyfriend took me to the mall. We went shopping," Marley said with a little shrug. She had to try not to laugh because Kendra jumped right in with the questions, of course. "Alice is a force of nature. You'd like her. She even wound up getting you a few things."

"She got you more than a few things. Didn't she?"

Marley sighed and nodded. She wasn't surprised that Kendra picked up on that or that she mentioned it. It made Marley nervous. She hoped that her best friend wouldn't be mad. "Yeah, a lot of stuff actually. I tried telling her no but she doesn't do well with no," she said, shaking her head. She took a sip of her tea, watching her friend carefully. "You're not mad or something. Are you?"

Kendra started to laugh, shaking her head, before she said anything. "No way. Why would I be mad?" she said, still laughing. She shifted to stand up, grabbing the plate with the brownies on it. Her mug was in her other hand so she nodded towards the stairs, grinning. "Are you going to show me what you got or what?"

Marley couldn't help but giggle at her best friend. She gave Kendra a quick hug and headed for the stairs. She took the lead, practically running to her room. She hadn't really taken a look at everything that Alice got for her. She was excited to take a look at everything with her best friend now that she knew Kendra was excited about this too. "You know if you see anything that you really like, you can have it, right?" she asked as she opened her bedroom door.

Kendra made a face and shook her head. "No, I won't. She got you that stuff for a reason. Besides if she got me anything, that's more than I could've expected," she said with a shrug. She put down the plate and turned on Marley's iPod. Then Kendra sat down on the bed, scooting back so she could stretch out her legs. She set her mug down on the nightstand and was grinning at her best friend, bouncing a little to the music.

"Come on," she said, nodding. "Let's see it all."

Marley was laughing as she set down her mug and started to go through the bags. She tossed one over to Kendra and then another. "Those are from Alice," she said with a nod. "Check it out. She seemed to think that you were going to love it. She wants us to have a sleepover some time, do makeovers and stuff like that."

Kendra had the biggest grin on her face, squealing in delight when she realized that Alice had gotten her things. She was pulling it out, looking at everything with this grin on her face. "I'm going to have to thank her for all of this. Oh god. I'm not going to be able to talk to her," she said, shaking her head. Alice was one of those people that Kendra naturally found intimidating. She couldn't explain why that was but it was how she felt anyway. There was no way that she was going to feel okay about talking to Alice. "You'll have to thank her for me. I mean, you two seem to get along really well. You thank Alice for me."

Marley laughed, shaking her head. She didn't understand how Kendra, or anyone else for that matter, could find Alice or Jasper or any of the Cullens intimidating. She had heard people saying it before but it didn't make sense to her now that she'd gotten to spend time with Alice and Jasper. "We'll both talk to Alice. Maybe at lunch or something," Marley said with a shrug. She was grinning right now, glad to see her friend so happy. "It'll be okay. I promise. Alice is super nice. So I take it you like what she got you? She wants us to do some kind of sleepover some time, makeovers and all that fun stuff."

Kendra giggled, nodding. Not that she could imagine what it would be like to stay at the Cullen's house. She'd seen it before, driving by the house once or twice, although she had no idea what it looked like on the inside. The idea of spending the night there seemed wild but Kendra was excited about it at the same time. She thought it would be fun, something that she and Marley could do together. She loved the idea of being a part of whatever was happening right now for Marley. "I think that could be fun. Makeovers and trying on clothes, things that we used to do all of the time. We should do it."

Marley was so happy right now. She didn't think that Kendra would take any of this very well. She thought that Kendra would feel like Alice was trying to take her away or something. The truth was that Marley knew that wasn't what was happening. She knew that Alice just wanted to be her friend, that she'd want to be friends with Kendra too. It was amazing that Kendra seemed to want to get to know Alice as well. "We can talk to Alice about it after you thank her for the gifts," Marley said with a nod. "She was really amazing. She was like a force of nature though. You can't say no to her."

Kendra laughed, giving Marley a look. "I know what that's like. You can be a force of nature some of the time too," she said with a laugh. "So what about Emmett?" She was holding up a top that Alice picked out for her, checking it out. It was amazing and so expensive. Kendra didn't know how she was going to thank Alice for something like this. She looked up at her best friend, folding up the top as she watched Marley. "Did she say anything about the way that he's been acting?"

Marley shook her head, looking away from Kendra. This was a subject that she didn't want to discuss. It made no sense to her to talk about Emmett because it wasn't like Emmett wanted her in the first place. He'd finally figured out what Marley knew all along. She wasn't good enough for him. At least Alice was being nice to her though. At least Marley had that much, although she didn't know why Alice was trying to be her friend. That made even less sense.

"Can we talk about something else? I don't want to talk about Emmett right now," she said, shaking her head. Marley was starting to unpack the bags and bags of things that she'd come home with. She was even laying out an outfit for the next day. There were so many amazing things, however, that she wasn't sure she'd be able to narrow it down to one choice. "You know, I bet Alice feels like this every day. I bet she looks at her closet and doesn't know what to wear. I can't believe that I'm going to have the same kind of troubles now that Alice got me all of this."

Marley and Kendra were soon giggling about the clothes and Alice and boys. The subject of Emmett wasn't brought up again although Kendra did hint at it and Marley seemed okay about that. It was fun and they took turns trying things on. Marley gave Kendra a couple of the things that Alice bought for her since she knew that she'd never wear them but that her best friend would. It was fun and for awhile, Marley felt like things were looking up again.

She knew that going back to school wasn't going to be so hard. Maybe facing Emmett wouldn't be that hard either. It wasn't like she had to talk to him after all. If he was going to ignore her, she was going to ignore him too. She didn't need Emmett after all. If he didn't want her, she didn't want him. If he didn't need her, she didn't need him. That was all that there was to it.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Again I'd like to personally thank the people who took the time to review my story. I haven't done it in awhile and I thought that it was only right that I think you all again. So thank you to **compa16**, **Genieva was a Diver**, **PureAngelEyes**, **IamCattiCandi**, **SethsMYWolf** and **jessa76** for your reviews. I appreciate it more than you know!

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The moment that Alice and Jasper came home, Emmett jumped up from the couch and walked over to her. He didn't say anything to her, just glared and then started to walk upstairs. He knew that Alice would follow him. The look that he'd given her would be more than enough to get his sister to follow him upstairs after all. Plus if anyone knew what was coming next, it was Alice. He went right to his room, leaving the door open for Alice since he knew that she would follow him.

He sat down on the couch and looked over as Alice leaned in the door frame, peeking inside. Emmett nodded and Alice danced in, sitting down next to him. He let out a loud sigh and closed his eyes for a moment. He knew he really didn't have to ask Alice anything. She already knew what he wanted to talk about so he was going to wait for her to say something to him first.

It took a long moment before Alice opened her mouth. She seemed to be watching Emmett as she chose her words. "She's really amazing, you know," she said with a little shrug. There was an apologetic tone to her voice. Alice had turned a bit so she was truly facing Emmett right now, a little smile on her face.

"I know she is. That's the problem," Emmett said, almost mumbling the words. He still had his eyes closed but he could tell that Alice was smiling. He could hear it in her voice. He just didn't want to look at her right now. He was afraid that she'd see too much of what he was feeling. The thought of Alice spending that much time with Marley actually made him feel jealous. Emmett didn't need Alice knowing that. She knew too much already after all. "What did she do? What did you guys do today?"

He knew that asking was betraying everything that he truly felt but right now he didn't care. Emmett wanted to know what the day was like. He'd tried to imagine what it would be like to spend a day with her or even just a few hours with her. He wanted to hear from Alice what it was like. Emmett wanted to know every detail of what they did, no matter how stupid or boring it might have seemed. Even the most trivial details were important to him right now. He opened his eyes to watch his sister, knowing that he'd get as much information from watching her talk as he would from her words.

Alice was grinning, almost bouncing as she sat there. She seemed pleased that Emmett was so curious right now. "We shopped. She's a lot of fun to shop with," she said with a nod. "More than Bella has ever been. Marley let me dress her up and get her all kinds of things. Wait until you see her tomorrow. She's going to be such a knockout!" Alice giggled, nodding.

Emmett couldn't help but chuckle. He knew now that Alice had been trying to not only make friends with Marley when she decided to take Marley shopping. Alice was trying to 'dress her up' so Emmett would notice her. That wasn't necessary though. He'd already noticed Marley. That was the problem after all. "Did she have fun? Did you make sure that she ate?" he asked in rapid fire succession. Maybe he shouldn't have worried so much about Marley but part of him cared more than he could say.

The smile on Alice's face now was brighter than before when Emmett started to ask questions about what happened. She nodded, grinning and shifting again so she was sitting on her one leg as she fully turned toward Emmett. "Yes, she ate, a couple of times I think. She seemed to have fun. More than she would admit," Alice said with a giggle. "I'm going to invite her over this Friday night. We're going to have a sleepover so you better prepare yourself. If you don't want to be here, you don't have to be but …" She giggled again as she paused her thought for a moment. "I bet that Marley would love it if you were here."

Emmett sighed a little, shaking his head. There was still a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth though because while he wouldn't say it, Emmett liked the idea that Marley wanted him around. He waited for a long moment before he said anything else. He wanted to choose his words wisely after all. "Did she … did you talk about … anything?" he asked, cocking his head to the side a little.

Alice smiled. It was that secret smile and she nodded. "We talked a lot. Especially when Jasper would run our bags to the car. She's very interested in our family," Alice said with a little nod. She gave him a little poke with a laugh. "I could tell that she wanted to ask more but she didn't seem to know how to do it. Kind of like you right now."

Emmett rolled his eyes a little, chuckling softly. He knew what she was hinting at and it made him laugh. "You think she wanted to ask more about me?" he asked, knowing that was what Alice meant and that she was just baiting him to get him to ask more questions as well. Emmett wondered if she baited Marley this way too and if Marley ever took the bait. Somehow he doubted that she did. "How do you figure that?"

Alice gave him that secret smile again and shrugged. She was being cryptic on purpose right now. Probably because Emmett had made it clear that he didn't want to know what kind of visions Alice might've had about all of this. He wanted this to happen naturally after all, if it was going to happen at all, and while Alice was interfering a little, she was still doing everything she could to let Emmett handle this on his own. He had to appreciate that much anyway.

Emmett sighed and shook his head a bit. Even if he appreciated it, it frustrated him that Alice knew more than she was telling him. "Tell me, Alice."

Alice grinned then as she stood up. "Just talk to her tomorrow, Emmett. She'll be so happy if you do," she said with a nod. "You'll see when you talk to her how I know that she's so curious about you. Trust me."

Emmett rolled his eyes as Alice seemed to almost dance out of the room again. It was going to be a long night and since he didn't want to think and he knew that he should feed soon, he got up and started to head downstairs. The only way to clear his head would be to get out of the house. Otherwise he'd see Edward or Alice and Emmett knew he'd start asking questions and that would just get him even more confused than he was already. What he needed right now was to be out in the woods. He needed to be somewhere that wasn't this house.

Emmett headed for the garage as quickly as possible, getting into his Jeep and starting it up right away. Emmett would find a remote place where he could just run for awhile. He thought that a run would be good. Somewhere with really rough terrain. He wanted it to be a bit of a challenge after all. Maybe he'd even find a bear to wrestle with for awhile before feeding on it since he knew he needed the blood. If Emmett could focus on that for awhile, maybe his head wouldn't feel so clouded and confused. That was what he needed at the moment. Less confusion and more clarity about the situation at hand.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: **A short update this time and the conversation will be continued in the next chapter but here's something more for now. I should get the next chapter up by tomorrow though. Thanks so much for reading! I appreciate knowing that you guys like what you're reading so far!

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When she showed up at school the next day, Marley was surprised by the level of attention she seemed to command. It wasn't every day that people stopped her in the halls to ask her about something that she was wearing after all. Clearly the clothes that she was wearing helped get her some attention. It was definitely a new concept for her and she was trying to get used to it.

Alice knew what she was doing when she helped Marley pick out things at the mall the other day and Marley was definitely getting more attention than ever right now. She would have to mention that to Alice the next time that she saw her. Not that she had any idea when she would see Alice again. Marley was just trying to get used to people stopping her in the halls. She wasn't sure how much she liked it though. It wasn't something that she was used to and she didn't think she wanted to get used to it either.

Marley straightened her top again as she looked in the bathroom mirror. She hardly recognized herself. She was in a pale blue lace top that Alice had liked with a white camisole underneath it. The skinny jeans she was wearing seemed to actually accentuate her figure in ways that Marley hadn't thought possible. She had a cute pair of ballet flats on, something Alice hadn't liked but Marley pushed for more flats than heels, and she had done her makeup. Maybe it was because it was more expensive than the stuff she got at the drugstore but Marley thought even the makeup made her look completely different.

Staring back at her was a person that Marley didn't recognize. It was strange to see a stranger in the mirror but it was exciting at the same time. This was a new experience for her and she was still getting used to it. This wasn't how she typically looked and the attention she was getting wasn't typical either.

She checked her makeup and hair and sighed. This was all so new to her and while she liked the attention, Marley was nervous about it at the same time. She really didn't see how a little makeup and new clothes could make other people pay attention to her like this. She picked up her backpack from the floor and headed out into the hall. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going as she walked out the door and she walked right into someone. In fact she stumbled backward, feeling like she'd just hit a brick wall.

When she looked up, Marley saw Emmett smiling down at her. She swallowed hard, her eyes open wide as she looked at him. She saw his hand out and she put her hand in his without thinking twice about it. Emmett smiled again when her hand was in hers and she shivered a little. His skin was cool to the touch but that didn't bother her. In fact Marley hardly noticed it. What she noticed was the feeling of his hand wrapping around hers as he held it. He didn't say anything as he started to walk and she didn't have much choice but to follow him.

Marley was surprised when Emmett walked them right out the back door and out to the parking lot of the school. She wasn't so surprised that no one stopped them as they walked though. Even the teachers at school seemed intimidated by Emmett Cullen. She was just so caught up in the fact that he was holding her hand that she didn't think twice about letting him take her outside although once they were in the parking lot, she was concerned about what was going on.

"Emmett, what are we doing out here? We still have classes," Marley said, sounding confused and concerned.


	17. Chapter 17

Emmett stopped them when he heard Marley's voice. From the moment that he saw her today, he'd wanted to get her alone so they could talk. When she walked out of the bathroom and bumped right into him, he saw it as his chance to finally talk to her alone. What he didn't think about was how she was going to react to him dragging her off without a word. How she hadn't said something earlier seemed like a miracle to Emmett now. Any normal human would've called him out on it but then again Marley didn't seem very normal at all. She seemed to be interested in him, a vampire, and while she didn't know what he was yet, Emmett knew that he had to tell her. It was just a matter of figuring out how to say the words. Now that he had her alone, he wasn't sure what he was going to do next.

"I … We …" Emmett sighed, shaking his head at himself. He had never had a hard time finding the right words for any situation but right now he was fumbling for words. "Do you want to take a drive with me? I want to take you somewhere special but only if you're okay with that."

He watched as Marley slowly nodded her head. She seemed dazed and confused right now but she seemed willing to go with him at the same time. That seemed like a good thing to Emmett. Maybe if he took her out in the middle of nowhere they'd be able to talk without him freezing up half way through the conversation. He led her to his Jeep and unlocked the door for Marley. After helping her in, he ran around to get in as well.

Emmett didn't say anything as he started the car. He didn't even say anything as Marley fumbled with the radio. She searched through for a station to listen to and then turned the music up when it seemed like Emmett wasn't going to want to talk. Marley didn't mind though. She could easily sit in silence and listen to the music and watch the road as he drove. She was trying to figure out where they were going as Emmett drove. He could tell when he looked over at her. He could see how curious she was about everything right now.

"Look, I'm sorry," Emmett said with a sigh. He looked over at her as he drove, watching everything that she was doing. He paid just enough attention to the road to appear human although even then he knew he probably wasn't behaving enough like a human at the moment.

Marley looked over at him, confused. She noticed he was watching her and gave his arm a little shove. "Don't watch me. Watch the road," she said with a nod. "And what are you apologizing for anyway?"

"I just pulled you out of school. You just followed me. I haven't explained enough of what's going on though," Emmett said with a sigh. His attention shifted to the road and he stared out the windshield now. If this was what she wanted, then he was going to behave more like a human. He was going to watch the road and only talk if she was ready to talk to him.

Marley didn't say anything for quite awhile. Finally she looked over at him and sighed. "Where are you taking me? I know you said somewhere special but where?" she asked. She stared at him until Emmett looked at her briefly. "I think at this point it's pretty safe to talk to me."

Emmett shook his head and continued driving. "We're almost there," he said with a quick nod. His focus was on the road ahead of them. To be honest, he had no idea where they were going. He saw a dirt road and pulled off the main road, driving for awhile before finally putting the car in park.

Marley looked around, seeming startled that the car wasn't still moving. She didn't seem scared though, just confused. She unbuckled her seatbelt and turned in her seat a bit to face Emmett a little more. She crossed her arms and sighed as she looked at Emmett, waiting for him to say something. After a minute or two of silence, Marley couldn't take it anymore. She let out a frustrated growl and opened the car door, hopping out and starting to walk back down the dirt road.

Emmett quickly hopped out and rushed to her side. He didn't think twice about how fast he moved and he saw that Marley jumped when he reached her side so quickly. He took a step back then, afraid that he'd just scared her. When she stopped walking and turned to face him, Emmett took a half step toward Marley.

"Can we please talk?" he asked, almost pleading with her right now.

Marley sighed, her arms still folded across her chest. She looked down at her feet and nodded. "Fine, Emmett. Talk," she said with another sigh. "I'll listen."

He took another half step toward her and lifted her chin so she was looking at him. Emmett gave Marley a small smile and let his thumb brush her cheekbone softly. He felt warmth of her skin and that heat as a blush crept up onto her face. He gently cupped her face with his hands, smiling a little more. Emmett could see how relaxed Marley was right now, how happy and calm she was. He didn't understand it but he was grateful that she wasn't terrified right now.

"I … I don't even know where to start," Emmett said with a sigh. His hands fell to his sides. "There's something about me that you need to understand but I'm afraid if I tell you that you'll never speak to me again."

Marley reached up this time and gently cupped Emmett's face with his hands. She made him look at her, a soft smile on her lips. "You can tell me anything, Emmett. I can't promise that I might not freak out if it's something really bad or really crazy but I can promise that I'll hear you out and that we'll figure it all out after you tell me. Okay?" she said with a little nod. Her thumbs were lightly brushing against his cheekbones as she spoke and Marley smiled a little more. "Now start at the beginning. Take a deep breath and just tell me. Please."

Emmett waited until Marley pulled her hands back. He took her hands in his and raised them to his lips, kissing the top of each hand. "Do you feel how cold my skin is to the touch? Do you see the color of my eyes right now?" he asked, looking deep into Marley's eyes as he spoke. "There's a reason for that. For those things and a lot more."

"Okay. So what is it?"

Emmett couldn't help but chuckle at the look on her face. She looked so impatient and he knew that was a trait that they shared. He had all the time in the world but he was probably the least patient person that he knew. Clearly Marley had very little patience as well. Emmett had to admit that he kind of liked that about her.

He gave her hands a squeeze, still holding them in his own. "You're going to think I'm completely crazy," Emmett said with a little nod. He already knew that she was going to think he was crazy. Then the fear would follow. Then she'd take off running from him. The bad part was that they were in the middle of nowhere and he didn't know if she had a cell phone to call someone to get her if that did happen.

"Do you trust me?" Emmett asked. He gave her hands another squeeze. When she nodded in reply, he took a deep breath. He didn't need to breathe but Emmett felt like he needed a moment to collect his thoughts. Finally he did the only thing that he could do. He blurted out the words as quickly as possible without leaving any room for Marley to misunderstand him.

"I'm a vampire."


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: **Thank you all for the amazing reviews. I've been thrilled to see that people are enjoying my story. So starting with my very first reviewers and working my way through, I have some people that I'd like to thank because without your reviews I may have abandoned this story awhile ago. So thank you to the following people: **compa16**, **Genieva was a Diver**, **PureAngelEyes**, **I****AmCattiCandi**, **SethsMYWolf**, **jessa****76**, **Honiahaka02**,**Book-Nerd 4 lyfe**, **snicker****zNjeLLybeanz** and **Kelsi**. You guys posted reviews and those reviews have given me a push to continue writing so thank you!

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Marley hadn't known how to react when Emmett said that he was a vampire. Those were words that she hadn't expected to hear from him. To be honest, she had never expected to hear those words ever. Actually she'd felt dizzy and had almost fallen over when Emmett had said it but he'd caught her because she could hit the ground. She hadn't fainted but it was close. She'd closed her eyes as soon as she felt that dizziness and took a few deep breaths while Emmett held her tight to make sure that she didn't fall. When she opened her eyes again, she looked at Emmett with her eyes widened in shock.

Part of her had to admit that it was frightening to think that Emmett was a vampire even if she wouldn't say it out loud. Vampires weren't real. They were from myths and legends. They weren't real things. That was all that kept running through her head when Emmett had said those words. It didn't make any sense to her. Vampires couldn't be real but here was Emmett and he was so genuine and so honest. Marley couldn't disbelieve those words as much as she wanted to and if she believed Emmett, then she had to admit that vampires were real and that she was standing in the forest with one.

They were in the middle of nowhere right now and that added to that bit of fear that she felt. What if something happened to her out here? No one would ever know after all because no one else knew where she was. She'd left school with Emmett without saying anything to anyone. It wasn't that she was afraid of Emmett. It was more that Marley was afraid of what he said that he was. If she had to admit that vampires were real, then she had to admit that she was afraid of vampires.

Marley swallowed hard and then finally worked up the courage to say one of the things that was on her mind right now. "Don't vampires … drink blood?" she asked, her voice trembling more than she had wanted it to right now.

Emmett nodded a bit as he let go of her. He steadied her when Marley wobbled a bit but he didn't grab hold of her like he had before. If she was asking questions like this, then he had to worry about what she thought of him. "Yes, but my family is different. We only feed on animals. It's why my eyes are this golden color," Emmett said, looking away from her.

Marley found a place to sit down and looked over at Emmett as he started to pace. She bit her lip softly, sighing a little. "So you wouldn't hurt me, right?" she said, looking up at him with a hopeful look on her face. "That's sort of a dumb question. I mean, I spent all that time with Alice and Jasper and nothing happened to me. They could've easily taken me somewhere and …" She swallowed hard at the thought.

Emmett sighed, stopping his pacing to walk over and kneel down in front of Marley. He took her hands in his, surprised when she let him do it. "We would never hurt you, Marley. My family and I, we're not like that. I only took you out here because … well, people can't know," he said with a nod. "I wanted to get away from everyone before I said anything to you."

Marley swallowed hard again, nodding. She felt dizzy and she took a deep breath and then another one. She was trying to calm herself before she really did pass out. After a few, quiet moments, she felt better. She looked up at Emmett to find him still kneeling in front of her. He was still holding her hands, something that Marley hadn't noticed until now. Slowly she turned her hands and laced her fingers with his instead. Marley played with their fingers a little, looking at their hands before slowly looking up at Emmett again. She smiled softly and saw that Emmett returned that small smile.

"You must think I'm crazy right now," she softly said. Marley bit her lip for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts before she explained anything else. There was so much going on in her head and she was trying to sort it out before she said another word. "You won't hurt me, huh? It's funny because so many people are so intimidated by you and your family. Makes sense now."

"And what about you?" Emmett asked as he shifted to sit next to Marley.

She looked over at him, turning a little so they could still hold hands and so she could still look at him as she spoke. "I'm intimidated too but not for the same reasons as other people," Marley said with a nod. "You all are so … attractive. You all have money and power. It's intimidating."

Emmett laughed and shook his head. "That's what you're intimidated by? Marley, you're beautiful," he said with a bright smile. He lifted her hand to his lips and softly kissed the top of her hand.

Marley was blushing and looked away a little. She could feel the heat in her cheeks right now and knew she had to be turning bright red at this point. "No one has ever called me beautiful before, Emmett. That's not who I am," she said, shaking her head a bit. "Not even my parents."

"You've never been told that you're beautiful before? No one has ever said that to you before," Emmett said, sounding surprised. He shook his head and lifted Marley's chin so she was looking at him again. He lightly brushed his fingers against her cheek, smiling when he saw her smile. "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Not because of this new makeup or your new clothes. You're beautiful without all that."

Marley looked down a little, as best as she could at the moment. Her smile was soft and shy. "Before all this I was afraid that you would never notice me after that first day," she said with a little shrug. She looked Emmett in the eye now although Marley still looked as shy as she had before she started talking. "Now you're telling me that you think I'm beautiful. I just …"

Emmett chuckled, shaking his head a bit. "Are you trying to tell me that it's harder for you to believe that I think that you're beautiful than it is for you to believe that I'm a vampire?" he asked, sounding as surprised as he looked.

Marley laughed a little, shrugging. "Maybe," she said with a little smile on her face. She couldn't help but smile actually. "Kendra has said it before but she's my best friend. She's supposed to say nice things about me."

It was Emmett's turn to chuckle now. He was shaking his head in disbelief right now. "You make no sense," he said. His smile was brighter now. "It's easier for you to believe that I'm a vampire than for you to believe that you're beautiful." He lightly brushed his fingers against her cheek before lifting Marley's hand to his lips, kissing the top of her hand softly. "You're beautiful. You're amazing. You're smart and sweet and fun to be around. Marley, you're perfect. I wish you could see yourself the way that I see you."

Marley knew that she was bright red by now. She gave Emmett's hand a squeeze although she knew that he couldn't feel it. It was reassuring to her anyway. "I … I'm just glad that you haven't run the other way from me. Crazy, right?" she said with a soft laugh.

Emmett lightly brushed his fingers against her cheek again and rested his forehead against hers. He didn't want to rush anything but he wanted to be closer to her. This would have to be enough for now. "No, it's amazing. Just like you," he softly said with a little nod. "You don't want me to leave you alone. Do you?"

Marley shook her head, leaning back a little. She cupped Emmett's face in her hands and smiled softly as she let her thumbs brush his cheekbones. "No. No, you did that once and it was pretty horrible if you ask me," she said with a light laugh. She could laugh about it now but when Emmett had stopped talking to her, it had really hurt. Marley was thrilled at the idea that he wanted to spend more time with her. "I want to get to know you. All about you. Sounds like that's going to take some time."

Emmett laughed, nodding. "It could take quite awhile if you really want to know everything," he said with a little smile.

Marley nodded, her smile brighter. She slowly let her hands slide down to rest on his shoulders. Then she slowly wrapped her arms around Emmett's neck. "I do. I want to know everything. So I guess that means you're stuck with me," she said with a little smirk.

Emmett kissed her forehead, his hands resting at her waist as he leaned his forehead against hers again. When he spoke, it was in a whisper. "I like the sound of that," he softly said. "You're stuck with me too."

Marley shrugged a little, giggling softly. "It could be worse," she softly said. She wrapped her arms a little tighter around Emmett's neck. "I could be stuck without you. That would be worse."

"Well I'll never do that again. I promise."

Marley laughed softly and hugged Emmett tight. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and whispered against his cold skin. "I'm holding you to that promise," she whispered. "For a long, long time."


	19. Chapter 19

Emmett had taken Marley home after they talked. They'd spent most of the rest of the afternoon talking actually. It was only when he realized that Marley hadn't eaten that he thought about taking her home. He hadn't been thinking about things like that while they were talking. Emmett had just been trying to answer her questions at the time. She didn't have a lot of questions to start out. Mostly Marley had asked about him being a vampire and how he had been turned. He had been happy to answer the questions that she had.

Marley had seemed nervous but excited as she asked her questions. She tried to keep them short and to the point but Emmett answered every single one of them. The way that he had described what it felt like to be turned into a vampire was a bit frightening but she was excited by everything that she was learning about him. She still had more questions, of course, but it was getting later and Emmett clearly wanted her to go home so she could get something to eat.

When he pulled up in front of her house, Marley looked at it and sighed softly. She looked over at Emmett, wanting so much to ask him more questions about his life. "Will you come by tonight?" she asked, giving him a little pout.

Emmett chuckled and nodded. "Is there a certain time I should come by to pick you up?" he asked, figuring that she wanted to go somewhere with him to talk. He didn't think that she wanted him to sneak into her bedroom in the middle of the night after all.

"My parents go to bed by 10:30 most nights. I'm usually in my room by 10," she said as she brushed her fingers against his cheek. "You know which window is mine, right?" Marley glanced out the window and looked in the direction of her bedroom before looking at Emmett again. She saw the surprised look on his face and laughed softly. "What's that look for?"

"You want me to sneak into your room?" he asked. Emmett glanced where she had and knew exactly which window would lead him to her bedroom. Then he looked at Marley again. "You want me to come back tonight and sneak into your room while your parents are asleep?"

Marley laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I do," she said with a little shrug. "If you can't do that, let me know now. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. You said that you don't sleep so what else would you be doing tonight?"

Emmett chuckled and shrugged. "That's not the problem. You need your sleep though," he said, raising an eyebrow at her. The look on his face was a serious one right now. "Do you really think it's a good idea?"

Marley sighed, rolling her eyes. "Then don't come by tonight. I'll just talk to you at school tomorrow," she said with a nod as she opened her door and got out of the car. "You're going to either invite me to sit with your family tomorrow at lunch or you're sitting with me. Either way, I'll see you at lunch, Emmett."

Emmett laughed softly at how direct Marley was being. He watched her close the door and hurry up the path to her front door. He waited until he saw her go into her house before he pulled away. As he drove, he considered what she said to him. While he knew that they had time to find out more about each other, Emmett liked the idea of spending more of the day with Marley. He just wasn't sure if sneaking into her room in the middle of the night was the way to go. He didn't head home though.

He stopped at a gas station to fill up his tank and then Emmett started to drive. He didn't know where he was going. He just followed the road for awhile and then got on the highway. He kept driving until he saw it getting dark out. Emmett had tuned everything out as he drove and it wasn't until he saw the sun had set that he turned around and started to head back for Seattle. He stopped for gas again, realizing that driven farther than he'd expected, and then pointed his Jeep back toward Seattle, back toward the lights of the city.

He glanced at the clock and found himself aiming his Jeep toward Marley's house. It was 10 o'clock and if he was quiet enough, he probably could sneak right into her room before her parents went to bed. If he slowed down, by the time he reached Marley's house, it would be 10:30. The thing was that Emmett didn't like to drive slow.

When he turned onto Marley's street, Emmett parked on the end of the block. He didn't want to be obvious after all. He glanced at the clock in his Jeep before getting out and running around to the back of Marley's house. He sneaked around to the side of the house, looking up to see if Marley had left the window open or if she had a light on. He chuckled when he saw that not only did she have the light on in her room but her window was open.

It didn't take much effort for Emmett to get up to Marley's second floor bedroom window. He slipped into her room silently, sitting down on her bed. He looked around the room a little and smiled. It was a little eclectic but Emmett could see how everything in the room worked together and how it all fit Marley so well. He heard Marley saying good night to her parents and heard her parents heading down the hall and off to their bedroom. He heard their door close and then heard as Marley walked around downstairs for a moment.

Emmett was tempted to sneak downstairs to surprise her but he waited in her room instead. He knew it was just a matter of time before she made her away upstairs after all. He heard her put on some water and waited, listening as Marley made some tea before heading upstairs. Emmett quietly shifted on the bed and watched the door. When Marley jumped in surprise, he rushed to her side to make sure that she didn't spill her tea all over. He tried not to laugh as Marley seemed to catch her breath. She set her mug down on the table next to her bed and quickly closed the door behind her.

Emmett wrapped Marley in his arms and kissed her forehead softly. He walked with her over to her bed and smiled as she stretched out and patted the spot next to her on her bed. He climbed onto the bed as well, sitting next to her. Emmett wrapped his arm around her shoulder and smiled a little brighter when Marley leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"What did you want to talk about?" Emmett asked. He kept his voice quiet but he didn't quite whisper. Since her parents probably weren't asleep yet, he was doing his best to keep quiet for the time being.

Marley shrugged a little, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging Emmett tightly. "I don't know," she said with a little smile. "I just want to get to know you, Emmett. What do you want to tell me about yourself?"

Emmett shook his head a little bit. "Why don't you tell me more about yourself instead?" he asked with a soft smile, his fingers softly playing with Marley's hair. "I think it's only fair that I get to know you too."

She sighed softly, looking up at him with a little smile. "What do you want to know?" Marley asked with a little shrug. "I want you to know everything about me too but you already know pretty much everything."

Emmett chuckled softly, shaking his head. "I know a bit about you but that can't be everything," he said with a smile. "What's your favorite book? What's your favorite color? What's your favorite food?"

Marley laughed softly, shaking her head. Just like the first time that they'd talked, Emmett was hitting her with several questions at once. She thought it was cute and funny but she did have to think for a bit to give him proper answers. "I don't have a favorite book but I do love Jane Austen," she said with a quick nod. "I just like to read so any book is a good book. My favorite colors are pink and purple. My favorite food is probably Hawaiian pizza. Or lasagna." She reached for her tea and took a sip before setting it down again. "What else?"

Emmett chuckled, watching Marley carefully. He was grinning right now and pulled her closer. "What else do you do besides read? You have to have other hobbies," he said with a little shrug.

Marley wiggled a little in Emmett's arms and finally got him to let go. She was standing on her bed, walking across it before hopping down and going to her closet. She pulled out a box and then grabbed a couple of thick binders out of the box. She was grinning as she walked back over to the bed, sitting down next to Emmett again as she set the binders onto her lap. "I do this," Marley said as she opened up the first binder. She flipped through page after page after page of photographs. "I take pictures."

Emmett looked at the pictures as Marley paged through the first binder. He stopped her now and then to ask when she took a certain picture or where she was when she took a picture. She usually had to think for just a moment before she could answer him. She seemed to remember the when's and where's or every picture, which impressed him. Emmett really hadn't thought that Marley would remember that many details about her pictures. They looked through the first binder, which was mostly her friends and family members, and then moved on to the second binder. That one was filled with pictures of various outdoor scenes. There were a few pictures of animals and other objects as well. He liked the second binder better actually. It reflected Marley's interests a lot more to him.

She showed Emmett her camera and even took a few pictures of him. Marley laughed at the way that Emmett tried to hide himself from the camera a few times before letting her finally take a picture of him. She giggled and set her camera aside, promising that she'd develop the film soon and show Emmett more of her photography. She looked over at the clock next to her bed and pouted, at least until Emmett pulled back the sheet and blanket before climbing under them.

Marley climbed under the blanket as well, snuggling up next to Emmett. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Emmett was lightly playing with her hair as she fell asleep. He reached, very carefully, for her camera and took a picture of her while she slept. He didn't think that Marley had enough pictures of herself after all and she looked so peaceful while she was sleeping. He couldn't resist. It would be a nice surprise for Marley when she went to develop this roll of film.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N:** I'd like to say thank you to everyone who's been reading this. I know updates are highly sporadic but I'm working on it! Thank you for the 6608 views, 15 reviews, 18 favorites and 27 followers. You all are keeping my muse well fed which keeps me writing. I appreciate the support and hope that you all enjoy the story as much as I have so far! Keep reading and I'll keep writing!

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Marley had been surprised when she woke up to find that Emmett was still in her bed, watching her sleep. She immediately buried her face in his neck, trying to hide from him. He chuckled and gave her a little squeeze before kissing her head and telling her that he'd be back in an hour to pick her up to take her to school. Marley had just nodded although she followed behind him when Emmett went to her window to jump out. She watched him as he moved quickly from her yard to the street. From there, she had lost him but she assumed he had gone to his car.

She felt a bit like a zombie as she walked over to the closet. She picked the first things that she saw and walked to the bathroom. Marley was going through the motions right now as she got ready. She did everything faster than normal though, trying to get ready before Emmett came back to pick her up from school. She didn't want to be late after all especially since she still had to try to find something to eat.

Once she'd showered and got dressed, Marley ran down the stairs, trying to be careful to not trip over them. When she looked down though, she realized she didn't match so she had to run all the way back upstairs to change. This time she looked through her closet a little closer. She pulled out a dress that Alice had picked out for her and found a pair of flats to go with it. After changing, Marley grabbed her makeup bag as she started to head downstairs. She quickly turned around to stuff her books and notebook into her backpack and grabbed that too.

This time when she ran down the stairs, she tried to be a little quieter. She realized that she'd gone up and down the stairs at least three times while getting ready, which wasn't something she usually did. She was just so excited about getting to see Emmett again that she managed to forget things as she got ready. Her mother asked her what all the fuss was about as she ran into the kitchen. Marley just shrugged as she reached over her mother's head for a bowl. She poured herself some cereal and sat down at the table to eat. Of course her mother told her to slow down but she wanted to finish eating before Emmett arrived. Her mother rolled her eyes at her and shook her head again before walking out of the kitchen. Marley sighed softly before she finished her cereal and running upstairs once more to quickly brush her teeth before running downstairs to put on a little makeup.

She was in the middle of putting on her makeup when the doorbell rang. She jumped and nearly poked herself in the eye with the eyeliner pencil. Her hands were suddenly shaking as she finished. She could hear her mother talking to Emmett and Marley took a deep breath. This was not something that she saw going well at all. It would've been worse if it had been her father who had answered the door but thankfully he had already left for work. Still, Marley thought this was bad enough.

She grabbed her backpack after stuffing her makeup bag into her backpack as well and headed out into the hall. Marley noticed that her mother was actually smiling as she talked to Emmett. They were making small talk, chatting about the weather when suddenly her mother asked him how he even knew her daughter. Marley rolled her eyes as she walked toward the door, picking up the pace because this was the kind of 'disaster' moment that she had been waiting for. To her surprise, Emmett chuckled at the question, making her mother smile. Somehow he seemed able to put her mother at ease so Marley was grateful for that.

"We have a few classes together," he said with a nod. "We've been studying together a bit lately. Well, to be honest, she's been the one tutoring me. She's really very smart."

Marley blushed bright red as she walked to the door. She saw her mother's surprised look and tried not to roll her eyes when she saw it. Her mother had never been one to believe that Marley was very smart after all. She hiked her backpack up on her shoulder again and shook her head a little bit. Marley smiled at Emmett, giving him a little wave. When he grinned at her, she thought that her heart was going to beat right out of her chest. Her stomach felt like it was full of butterflies. Just looking at him made her happy it seemed.

"I'm going over to Emmett's house to study after school so I won't be home until late," Marley said with a little shrug as she eased her way past her mother. All her mother seemed to do was nod in response. Once the door was closed, she reached for Emmett's hand, giggling a little as he laced his fingers with hers as they walked to his Jeep.

"Another one of those outfits that Alice picked out?" Emmett asked. He looked her over, cocking an eyebrow with a chuckle. When he saw Marley blush, he raised her hand to his lips and softly kissed the top of her hand. "You blush a lot."

Marley rolled her eyes with a soft sigh. "You make me blush a lot," she said. The truth was that she had never blushed so much in her life but around Emmett, she seemed to blush often. He was so charming and sweet. His compliments were going to take some getting used to but Marley thought it was going to be worth it.

"So you want to come over to my house today?"

Marley laughed and shrugged. "I just said that so my mom didn't wonder where I was if I wasn't home in time for dinner. We don't have to," she said as they reached the Jeep.

Emmett opened the door for her, watching to make sure that she got in safely. "I think it'll be all right," he said with a shrug before closing her car door and running around to get in as well. Emmett started up the Jeep and pulled into traffic, starting to drive them to school. "I want to introduce you to my family anyway."

"So are you like a real family? I mean, I get it that you're not all really related but it's like a real family, isn't it?" Marley asked, just curious about what it was like. It seemed like he came from a really great family but she just wondered how it all worked. "It always seemed like you guys were so close."

"We are. We're just like any family, I guess," Emmett said with a shrug. He was watching her more than the road although when Marley shook her head at him, he turned his attention to driving. He didn't want to freak her out after all. "Esme and Carlisle are our parents for all intents and purposes. Edward, Bella, Jasper and Alice are like my siblings. We're all very close. The only difference between any other family and ours would probably be that we're vampires."

Marley laughed a little, shaking her head. "I would say that's a pretty big difference, Emmett," she said with a soft smile. "I wish I could say that about my family though. We're not that close. We usually see each other in passing more often than not. Everyone's always so busy with their own things." She shrugged, looking out the window as she spoke. Marley knew people who came from tight-knit families. She didn't come from a family like that though. It all felt so disconnected to her. She knew she could count on her family for anything but she also felt like she didn't even know them at all.

It wasn't until they were parked in the school parking lot that Emmett made move. He reached over a lightly brushed his fingertips against her cheek. He smiled when Marley leaned into his touch a bit. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her right now but he didn't want to freak her out either. Instead he leaned in and softly kissed her cheek. She turned her head towards his and brushed her nose against Emmett's. Marley only kissed the corner of Emmett's mouth though. Then she grabbed her backpack and climbed out of the Jeep.

Emmett hurried out of the Jeep as well, hurrying around to the passenger side. While she had gotten out before he could open the door for her, he did close the door for her. He even held out his hand for her to hold. He smiled when Marley placed her hand in his, lacing her fingers with his. He walked her to her first class, kissing her cheek before leaving to hurry to his first class too.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N:** I'd like to thank **Quieria**, **jessa76** and **ShayShaysaysHEY** for their reviews on the last chapter. I know it's been a very long time since I've updated and I'm very sorry about that. I'm trying to decide where to end this story and if I want to shift it into a two story thing or try to tell it all at once. I know the ultimate ending after all. That's been written and everything. The thing is that getting to the ending has been slower going than I expected and to top it all off, I'm debating splitting this into two stories or just one. I'm really thinking that two stories might be the way to go but we'll see. Anyway, keep reading. I appreciate it. Hugs to you all! And I'll try to update soon!

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Marley had actually been surprised that Emmett hadn't wanted to have lunch with his family. Instead he sat with her and Kendra. It seemed that his family noticed that Emmett had chosen to sit with her and her friend as well because any time she looked up, one of them were looking over at their table. It made things feel a bit awkward but it was no more awkward than having Emmett staring at her whenever they were in a class together. She seemed hyperaware of the attention that he was giving her now and it was taking some getting used to but Marley figured that there were worse things that could happen. Having someone like Emmett staring at her in class seemed like a pretty good problem to have to be honest.

She wasn't surprised that Kendra wouldn't let her get a word in at lunch though. She kept talking and talking and Emmett didn't seem to mind either. He made small talk with her and laughed when Kendra had commented on Alice buying so much stuff when Marley had gone shopping with Alice and Jasper. He agreed that Alice could get a little out of hand with the shopping but Marley jumped in to tell them that it had actually been fun. Sure, it had been a whirlwind and it was hard to keep up with her sometimes but Marley had enjoyed herself.

When Kendra asked Emmett his intentions with Marley though, Marley had wished that she could have excused herself from the table. She was blushing bright red at the moment and couldn't believe that her friend had just asked that. If anyone would be looking out for her though, it would be Kendra. Looking down, she used her hair to find her face as best as she could. Marley focused on her food for the moment, picking at what was left of her sandwich. Suddenly she wasn't so hungry though.

Emmett chuckled at the question and gave Kendra a slow shrug of his shoulders. "I don't really have a plan, if that's what you're asking," he said with a grin. "We're just getting to know each other and seeing where it goes."

Kendra narrowed her eyes as she watched him. She folded her arms across her chest and frowned, clearly not satisfied with that as an answer. Maybe Marley's parents wouldn't give Emmett the third degree but Kendra would and that was her intent right now. "You're telling me you have no intentions? It's never crossed your mind to ask her out on a date? Or to kiss her?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at Emmett.

Emmett didn't bat an eye as she asked him those questions. Instead he grinned a little more and looked at Marley. She was still blushing but she looked up at him, tucking her dark hair behind her ear to uncover her face, as if she wanted to hear the answers to those questions as well. He chuckled at that and put an arm around her. Instead of directing anything to Kendra though, he spoke right to Marley. "Would you like to go to the movies tomorrow? I know asking you on a date during the week might sound stupid but it'll be a movie and maybe grabbing something to eat after," he said with a little shrug. "If you're interested."

Marley laughed and nodded her head, biting her lip for a moment before saying a word. "Most people go on dates on the weekends but I'm not opposed to going to the movies after school tomorrow or whenever you wanted to go," she said with a bright smile. "Don't let Kendra bully you into asking me out though."

"Nah. I wanted to ask you out on a proper date," Emmett said with a chuckle and a slow shrug of his shoulders. He even brushed a little hair from Marley's face as he tucked it behind her ear slowly. "Just seems that some people have less patience about those sorts of things than others. We can go after school tomorrow. Today you're going to meet my family though."

Marley sighed a little and rolled her eyes. She had hoped that at some point today Emmett would give up on that idea. She wanted to spend time with him, not try to make a good first impression on his family. "If that's what it takes, then fine, I'll meet your family today," she said with a nod. "At least I can say that I know Alice and Jasper like me already anyway."

Emmett laughed and shook his head. It was a loud, booming and infectious laugh that made both Marley and Kendra giggle. He kissed her temple softly, breathing her in for a moment. In that moment, it was easy for Emmett to forget about everything but Marley although he tried to keep in mind that they weren't alone and that Marley was, in fact, very human which made her fragile. He kissed the top of her head and then smiled at her, seeing that he'd made her blush again.

"You blush easily," he said with a chuckle, lightly tapping his index finger just under her chin. "It's cute. I like it."

Marley gave him a nudge and she noticed that Emmett had the good sense to play along and move a little when she nudged him, as if she really could shove him if she tried. He was good at playing at being a human that was for sure. "You're really good at making me blush. That's all," she said with a shrug.

"You didn't answer my questions, Emmett," Kendra said after clearing her throat. She had folded her arms across her chest again with an eyebrow raised. She was doing her best to give him a glare although it seemed that Kendra even had a hard time being mad at Emmett.

"Well I just asked her out so that answers that question. I didn't ask her out just to satisfy you, if that's what you were thinking," Emmett said with a shrug, his attention shifted to Kendra now. He still had an arm around Marley's shoulders though. "I asked her because I wanted to do it. It was something that I hadn't gotten around to doing until now though. As for wanting to kiss her, I do. Very much. I just won't make that move until I know that Marley is ready."

Marley looked up at Emmett, her eyes a little wide. She had thought that he wanted to kiss her. It seemed that way a few times now although she couldn't seem to figure out why he stopped himself from kissing her. Marley had thought that she had given him all the signals to let him know that she wanted that too but clearly she hadn't been or he would have kissed her already. The idea that Emmett was nervous to make the first move was kind of adorable actually. She leaned in and softly kissed the corner of his mouth, smiling when he looked at her.

"First date and then first kiss, is that what you were thinking?" Marley asked with a soft laugh. When Emmett nodded, she smiled a little brighter. "You don't have to do things in that order. Next time you feel the urge to kiss me, just kiss me already."

Emmett chuckled softly and kissed her temple softly. "First date and then first kiss," he softly said. "That's the way that it's supposed to go and that's the way that it's going to go. Patience."

Marley rolled her eyes, laughing softly at him. From what she could tell, Emmett wasn't one to have patience so him telling her to be patient amused her. "Are you going to have the patience to wait for that?" she asked, her eyebrows raising as she looked at him. She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing when Emmett gave her a slightly shocked look. "It's fine. I'll be patient. I'll let you make the first move when you're ready. Just don't make me wait too long, Emmett Cullen."

Emmett laughed, that loud and boisterous laugh, and nodded, a grin on his face. "Of course, Marley Bradford. Whatever you want," he said with a little shake of his head. He could tell that she wanted him to kiss her now but Emmett was going to make her wait. Since she said that he could make the first move, he was going to see how long it took before she jumped at the chance to kiss him first.


	22. Chapter 22

Emmett was leaning on the wall near Marley's locker, waiting for her to make her way to her locker after school let out. His last class was right across the hall from her locker while he knew that Marley's last class was on the second floor so he knew he'd have to wait a bit for her to show up. Not that he minded. Emmett was whistling a little tune as he watched people walk by him, most not giving him a second glance. His face broke out in a grin when he saw Marley heading over though. He chuckled at the surprised look on her face when she saw him waiting there. Emmett just leaned against the wall without saying a word, watching as Marley put away her things and grabbed what she'd need for that night. He glanced and noticed that it didn't seem like she was taking much home with her although he figured she had a study hall, which meant she probably finished some of her homework already.

"Are you ready to go?" Emmett asked as he pushed away from the wall. He couldn't help the little smile on his face as he looked at Marley. There was something about her that made him happy. He couldn't explain it and he didn't think that it needed explaining. It was how Emmett felt, plain and simple, and he liked it.

Marley blushed and bit her bottom lip before giving him a little nod. She had done as much of her homework as she could in her classes and anything else that she needed was in her backpack. She fixed the strap of her backpack on her shoulder and walked beside Emmett, following him out of school. Marley noticed that Emmett quickly slowed his pace so she could easily keep up with him as they walked together. "Do I really have to meet your family?" she asked in a small voice. She looked up at Emmett with a pout on her lips.

Emmett chuckled and nodded, reaching out to tap his index finger under her chin. Her pout was something of a tease in his opinion because it made him want to kiss her. In fact it made him want to kiss her hard, to kiss her senseless. He knew that if she kept doing things like that, he was going to give in to that temptation to taste her lips. He was already working very hard to keep from doing things like that since he told her that he'd wait until after their first date before he'd kiss her.

"You told your parents that you were coming over to my house, Marley. We can't lie to them," Emmett said with a cocky little grin. He had her there since Marley had told her parents that she would be going over to his house afterschool. He reached for her hand, chuckling when Marley jumped at his touch before she laced her fingers with his. He raised her hand to his lips and softly kissed the top of Marley's hand. "We might be vampires but we won't bite. I promise."

Marley's eyes widened and she looked around but no one seemed to have heard Emmett. Still she was surprised that he'd say something like that out loud when there were people around that could have heard. She knew that there was always the chance of someone overhearing him after all and she was certain that information like that was supposed to be kept a secret. "Emmett! You shouldn't go around saying things like that," she said with a shake of her head. "What if someone heard you?"

Emmett chuckled with a little grin on his face as he led her outside, shaking his head a little bit. It was funny to him to see how upset she got that he'd said something about being a vampire the way that he did. When they got to his Jeep, he stopped them and turned toward her, chuckling again when her eyes widened a bit. He realized that he basically had her pinned against the side of his Jeep although that hadn't been his intention. Still he didn't move from where he was standing since Marley didn't seem to mind. He saw the way that she was looking him over. When she licked her lips, Emmett couldn't take it anymore. That was the last bit of teasing from her that he could stand. He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers, his hands moving to her hips.

Emmett felt Marley kiss him back, felt her body almost melt into his. He actually smiled a little against her lips as she kissed him harder. He felt her fingers brushing up the back of his neck and he actually shivered a little. He had actually never gotten dizzy kissing someone before but he felt like he was dizzy right now. Slowly Emmett pulled away from Marley's lips, chuckling against her lips when she leaned toward him and kissed him softly again.

He saw a dazed look on Marley's and laughed a little louder. It was that loud, booming laugh. He licked his lips slowly and watched as she did the same. Emmett let out a little growl when he saw it and smiled when he saw Marley blush when she heard that low, rumbling growl come out of him. He hadn't done it to cause her to blush. He'd done it because Marley licked her lips in a way that made him want to kiss her again. It made him want to do more than kiss her actually. He watched her for a moment, seeing her breathing harder. He could hear her heart beating rapidly and a slow grin seemed to spread across his face. Emmett liked that he could have that kind of effect on her.

"I … uh … we should get going," Marley asked although she sounded breathless. She blinked a few times as she looked at Emmett as he nodded and took a step back from her. The thing was that her body seemed to react immediately. Marley took a step toward him and she lightly grabbed at the side of Emmett's shirt. When she realized what she'd done, she let go and then step aside a bit so he could open the door for Marley. She slipped into Emmett's Jeep and immediately buckled up.

Emmett moved at a slightly faster than human speed as he got into the Jeep as well. He was just ready to get Marley to his house. He was excited to have her meet everyone in his family. She already knew Jasper and Alice and he knew that she'd talked to Edward before and that she had seen Bella around as well but it would be the first time Marley would meet Esme and Carlisle. That was the part that he was most excited about. He looked over at her as he started the Jeep and pulled out of his parking space. He chuckled when he saw Marley blush and look away from him. Emmett thought it was cute that he could make her get shy like that. He didn't know how he did it but it was sweet and cute and he liked that he could do it.

"I thought you weren't going to kiss me until we had our first date," Marley said although it sounded a bit more like a question than a statement. She glanced over at Emmett and tucked some hair behind her ear.

Emmett's smile seemed to grow as he watched her before his eyes were on the road. He didn't have to watch the road as much as a human but he tried to watch the road as much as he could. "You were tempting me too much. I think you were doing it on purpose," he said with a chuckle, shaking his head a bit.

Marley let out a soft gasp and shook her head adamantly. She didn't know how Emmett could think that she was tempting him. "I … h-how? How did I tease you?" she asked, looking over at him with a raised eyebrow.

Emmett glanced over at Marley and grinned again. "Pouting your lips. Licking your lips," he said with a little nod. He reached over and lightly brushed his fingers against her cheek softly, letting his thumb brush along her jaw. "Should I have waited?"

Marley's eyes widened and she shook her head again. She smiled shyly and reached for Emmett's hand, lacing her fingers with his. She giggled when Emmett kissed the top of his hand. "No. I'm not saying that you should've waited. I'm just surprised," Marley said with a little shrug. "You seemed so sure that it wasn't going to happen until after our first date."

Emmett laughed, that booming and infectious laugh. He heard Marley softly laugh when she heard it and he kissed the top of her hand again. "Well I'm glad that you liked that I kissed you but I guess I was wrong about when it was going to happen," he said with a smile. "I don't mind being wrong about that though. So are you nervous?"

"About spending this time with you? No," Marley said with a shake of her head. Then it dawned on her that Emmett was asking about her meeting his family, not about being alone with him. "Oh. You're talking about meeting everyone. Aren't you?" She laughed when Emmett chuckled and nodded. She bit her lip softly as she tried to gather her thoughts and then Marley shrugged her shoulders softly. "I don't know yet. I guess I might be."

"Don't be. I promise that everyone will be on their best behavior. I'm sure Alice already has food out for you and everything," Emmett said, laughing at the thought. Alice had to have known about all of this already so he was sure that they'd walk in and find food laid out for Marley and everything. "Carlisle and Esme are excited to meet you. I'm excited to have you meet them too."

Marley smiled a little at that. She liked that Emmett wanted her to meet his family and that he seemed to want them all to get along. She knew that him meeting her parents wouldn't go quite as well as this would probably go but Marley knew that she wanted him to meet her parents too. She was just focused on this moment though, getting herself ready to meet the Cullens. When Emmett turned off the road and pulled into a driveway, Marley took a deep breath and slowly let it out. This was going to probably go better than she thought it would but she was excited about it as well. She looked over at Emmett and when he smiled at her, everything seemed like it would be all right.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N:** I know that it's been ages since I've updated this story. Maybe even close to a year. Wow. I'm so sorry for that. The muse for this story had disappeared for a bit there but I'm getting back to it. This is what happens when you have multiple stories floating around in your head. One of the invariability gets lost in the shuffle. This story and my _Supernatural_ stories have suffered for it but I'm going to try to get back to these things. Especially this story. So thank you to those of you who are still reading. Thank you to my new readers as well. 51 followers, 26 reviews, 43 favorites and 15502 views still astonish me and I feel so grateful as a writer to even have one of you reading this. I hope you enjoy the update and while I can't promise another soon, I will do my best to get another update up as soon as I can!

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Emmett chuckled when he looked over at Marley. She was looking around at the house with her eyes wide open and a look of awe on her face. Every time she saw something new, she seemed to get even more surprised. This was the kind of reaction that he was expecting from her though. Most people seemed to get that look when they saw his house, saw all of the things that it was filled with. People tended to be surprised by it all or at least in awe of the beauty around them. The Cullens certainly had a thing for surrounding themselves with beautiful things although that was probably more Esme's doing than anything else. The thing that amused him so much was that she was so in awe already and they hadn't even stepped inside yet. Emmett couldn't wait to see the look on Marley's face once she got inside.

He kissed the top of Marley's head and led her up the stairs and into the house. Sure enough, the moment that she stepped inside, she was looking around with wide eyes again, trying to take everything in. She didn't say a word, other than a couple of muttered 'wow's as she looked around, seemingly frozen in place right at the front door. Emmett already knew everyone was waiting for them in the living room so he guided her in that direction, chuckling as she almost stumbled over her feet before she paid enough attention to where she was walking instead of everything that was around her right now.

He knew that he would give her a proper tour later. It seemed like she would enjoy that quite a bit actually and Emmett wanted to show Marley around if he could. Right now he wanted to get her meeting everyone out of the way. The sooner that they could do that, the sooner that he could spend time with Marley without worrying about anything else. He wanted to get all of the embarrassment out of the way if he could after all because he knew how much everyone was going to want to embarrass him, even without trying.

"Let's head for the living room. I know that everyone is excited to meet you," Emmett said as he stopped as they reached the doorway to the living room. He could hear the others already moving around inside but he saw that look on Marley's face so Emmett knew he needed to slow down a bit so he could reassure her that this was going to be alright. "Come on. I know they're all waiting. I'll give you a tour after that. I promise."

Marley looked a little overwhelmed as she looked around the house again or at least looked around at everything that she could possibly see from where she was standing. She took a deep breath and gave Emmett's hand a squeeze, even if he couldn't feel it. It was reassuring to her at least and she thought that she needed it. She felt like she was shaking like a leaf right now. She wasn't sure that she could do this although she could see how sure Emmett was that everything was going to be alright. "I don't … I'm not sure I'm ready for this," Marley nervously said, shaking her head. She looked up at Emmett with a 'deer in the headlights' kind of look on her face. "I shouldn't be here right now."

"Why do you think that?" Emmett asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked at her with a slight frown on his lips. He didn't want her feeling like she didn't belong because he felt like Marley belonged right here with him. The feelings he had for her were so strong and he didn't want to lose her over something as small as her coming to meet his family. Emmett stepped in front of Marley and wrapped her up in his arms. He sighed softly at the way that she wrapped her arms around him and just melded herself to him. He really wished that she could see herself the way that he saw her. "My family wants to meet you, Marley. They're excited to meet the girl that brought me out again," he said, almost murmuring the words into her hair as he rested his head on the top of hers.

Marley looked up at Emmett with a confused look on her face. Hearing him say something like that brought out her curiosity about him. She felt like she didn't know him at all. At least not yet. "Brought you out again?" Marley asked, raising an eyebrow. This was the first time that Emmett had talked about anything like this with her before. She wondered what he meant.

Emmett chuckled at the curiosity written all over her face and shrugged. While this was something that they hadn't talked about, he didn't mind Marley knowing how depressed he had been before he met her. She was, after all, the one that saved him again. "I was … I guess you could say that I wallowed for awhile there. I lost someone who was very important to me, someone that I loved very much. It hurt for quite some time. Then I met you and all that changed," he said with another soft shrug of his shoulders, his hands resting on her hips.

Emmett wanted nothing more than to pull her close again, to feel Marley's body melded against his as he held her tight. He was trying to be cautious with her. And gentle. He knew how easy it would be for him to squeeze a little too tight without realizing it after all. "You make me happy, Marley. Being with you makes me happy. I want you to meet my family. Please come into the living room with me."

Marley sighed softly and then nodded before taking a step back so she could shift in Emmett's arms, turning so she was facing forward again. She took a deep breath, sighing softly. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before saying anything. It was a lot to take in and she wasn't sure what to say to all of that. She knew that she needed to go in and meet Emmett's family. Now that she knew what she seemed to mean to Emmett, she knew that she had to go inside to meet his family. It was that important to him. "Let's go. I'm ready to meet you family," Marley said with a nod, trying to muster up her confidence.

Emmett kept his arm around Marley's waist. He could feel how much she was still shaking right now and he wanted to support her in case she fell over or something. He didn't understand why she was so nervous though. Everyone was happy about meeting her. This wasn't meant to be an intimidating moment after all. Esme was the first to come over, smile on her face and holding out her arms for a hug. Emmett chuckled when Marley hesitated and then stepped away from him to hug her. It didn't take long after that for Marley to relax a bit.

"Emmett has told us so much about you. Please, sit," Esme said, gesturing toward the couch. She stepped over by Carlisle and he immediately wrapped an arm around her waist, kissing the top of her head.

Marley blushed and looked back at Emmett. He nodded and she walked around to sit on the couch, smiling when Emmett sat next to her. She could see just from looking around how much the family loved one another. She could even see the fatherly and motherly love that Carlisle and Esme had for Emmett and the others. Having Emmett close did make her blush though because she really didn't feel like she fit in here with everyone else. "I … I'm sorry if I seem really nervous right now," Marley said with a soft laugh. "It's not because … I just …"

Carlisle gave her a soft smile, nodding. He was already aware that his son would have told Marley that they were vampires. It was something that Emmett had spoken about telling her after all. The fact that she was still here to meet all of them spoke volumes to Carlisle about the kind of person that Marley was. "We know that you know about us. The fact that you've been so accepting of Emmett speaks volumes about the type of young woman that you are, Marley," he said as he moved to sit down as well.

Marley let out the breath that she'd been holding and nodded. She knew that she shouldn't be nervous. Everyone around her kept telling her as much after all. She still couldn't help it. She didn't see herself the way that they all seemed to see her after all. She was just a girl but it seemed like they all saw Marley as being something more spectacular than she felt like she really was. She hoped that she could live up to the expectations, that she could be the person that they seemed to believe that she was. She wanted to be that person after all.

She glanced around for a moment at everyone, a shy smile on her lips. "I just don't want you thinking that I'm nervous because of that. I think I actually feel safer around Emmett and around all of you than I feel around some … regular people," she said with a soft laugh. She brushed some dark hair out of her face, looking down a bit.

Emmett lifted her chin, getting her to look at him. He kissed her forehead softly. Everything about what he was doing was tender, gentle. Hearing her say those words made Emmett feel better about all of this though. At least he knew for certain that Marley felt comfortable around him. "I'm glad you feel safe with me. I'd never hurt you," he softly said, brushing his thumb against her cheekbone.

Marley blushed again and looked back at everyone in the room. Having all of their eyes on her made her blush a little more. She saw the way Jasper shifted a bit, almost looking uncomfortable for a moment. Alice seemed to put a hand on his leg to get his attention and with the tiniest shake of her head, Marley saw Jasper start to relax. She bit her lip softly, knowing that she was the reason that Jasper had been ill at ease for a bit there. She assumed that it was the surge of blood in her body as she blushed and the way that her heart hammered in her chest. It probably wasn't easy for a vampire to be around someone who was as flustered as she was right now. The last thing that she wanted was to make any of them uncomfortable.

"Jasper sometimes still has moments where he feels like he's weaker than the rest of us," Edward said, glancing at Marley. He spoke without thinking about the way that it would sound since it certainly sounded as if he knew just what she was thinking and it was clear from the look on her face that Marley had wondered about that. Edward chuckled at the look on her face and gave her a shrug. "I … I can read people's thoughts."

Marley's eyes widened and she felt her heart start to race again as she processed what Edward had said. That meant that he knew all of the things that she was thinking. Especially those things that she thought about Emmett. "Oh. I … oh …"

Emmett chuckled when he saw Marley blush again, pulling her toward him with an arm around her shoulders. He laughed louder when she buried her face in his chest with a whimper. He knew exactly why she was acting the way that she was. Emmett didn't have to be a mind reader to know that much after all. He rubbed her back for a moment, a bright smile on his face. "Don't worry. He doesn't go around reading everyone's thoughts all of the time," he said with a smile as Marley looked up at him.

"No, just the ones that scream out at me," Edward playfully said.

Marley, who had felt relaxed enough to look up at everyone, immediately buried her face in Emmett's wide chest again, shaking her head. She was, after all, thoroughly embarrassed at the moment. The idea of someone hearing her thoughts, her most intimate thoughts of Emmett, made her feel a bit nervous. That wasn't something that she was expecting to experience right now. Or ever in her life for that matter. Marley didn't know how she was going to deal with being around Edward now that she knew that he could hear her thoughts. It was going to make things a bit awkward to be honest.

She knew that her heart was hammering in her chest right now. She could hear it rushing in her ears. She actually almost felt dizzy and she knew that she had to be bright red right now. Marley heard and felt when Emmett let out a low growl and she felt how he protectively wrapped his arms around her. It didn't take long for her to realize that Emmett had probably mentally told Edward off for his comment. Knowing that he felt that protective of her sent a surge of excitement through her whole body. It made her feel a little dizzier and she held on tight to Emmett as the dizziness washed over her. She didn't look up at him until it no longer felt like the whole room was spinning. She saw him look down at her with such love and tenderness in his eyes. She bit her lip hard as she stared at him, not sure if she was remembering to breathe or not as she stared into those amber eyes.

Carlisle cleared his throat and gestured to the others. "Perhaps we should allow Emmett to give Marley a tour of the house and give the two of them their privacy," he announced as he stood up, helping Esme up as well.

"But I wanted to stay and …"

"Alice," Carlisle said, reprimanding her with just that one word. He shook his head as Alice stood up and let out a heavy sigh before she left the room with Jasper. Edward and Bella followed behind them. Carlisle put his hand on Emmett's shoulder and smiled at both Emmett and Marley before he and Esme left the room as well.

Alice let out a 'hmmph' and seemed to pout but she let Jasper lead her out of the room. Jasper gave Emmett and Marley a quick nod as they left. Soon the entire family slowly exited the room, leaving Marley and Emmett completely alone. Emmett just wrapped his arm tighter around the fragile human's shoulders. He nuzzled his nose in her hair and let out a sigh as he breathed her in. He was never going to get enough of that sweet, delicious scent that Marley gave off.

"Ready for that tour?" he asked, a curious look on his face.

Marley nodded, biting her lip for a moment. She felt breathless and dizzy but there was something about that feeling that seemed right to her. Maybe it was just because Emmett was a vampire. She was sure that he had to give off some kind of scent that was meant to be intoxicating to the human senses but she thought it was more than that. It was just being near Emmett. It was the way he made her stomach feel like there were a million tiny butterflies fluttering around inside of her. It was the way that he made her heart race with the simplest smile. It was the way that her skin seemed to tingle at every touch. Those were the things that left her dizzy and breathless.

Emmett chuckled softly and slowly stood up. He held his hand out for Marley to stand. She slipped her delicate hand in his and let him help her up. Lacing her fingers with his, Marley smiled. Suddenly she felt very relaxed. Nodding again, she looked around the living room. She let out as gasp as Emmett pulled her toward him, wrapping his arm around her after letting go of her hand. He was grinning as he started them walking, excited to show her around the house without anyone else around to bother them.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N:** I know that it's been a long time since I've updated this story but I've been trying so hard to get it moving again. I know where it's going to go but I just have to get it there. Thank you for putting up with me and I hope that you like where things are going. I appreciate all of the readers after all. You're all amazing!

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Marley swallowed hard once they reached Emmett's room. He told her that he wanted to end their tour of his house at his room after all but she couldn't help that she was nervous now. It was the first time that Marley was going to be alone with a boy in his room and it made her a little more nervous that it was Emmett. He was gorgeous and incredible and Marley was quite nervous. Her heart was almost pounding in her chest at the thought of being alone with Emmett right now. The fact that it was going to happen the moment she stepped into his room seemed to make her dizzy. She saw the way that Emmett looked down at her, curious and trying to be reassuring all at once. She bit her lip at that and swallowed hard yet again.

"What's wrong?" Emmett asked, an eyebrow raising in curiosity.

"I've just never been … I've never been alone with a boy in his room before. That's all," she said, almost mumbling the words as she stepped through the doorway and into his room. She looked around his room a bit, taking everything in although she didn't comment on anything that she was seeing. Marley just wanted a chance to try to decipher exactly who Emmett was. Maybe seeing bits of his room would help but she had a feeling that wasn't going to be the case. She moved to the couch and sat down and then looked up at Emmett.

"I've never done anything to you before. That's not going to happen now," he said with a shake of his head. If she was worried about him biting her, well, that wasn't going to happen now and it would never happen without Marley's permission because he wasn't going to do it unless she wanted to be turned. He felt like he had enough self-control after all. Emmett gestured to the TV with that reassuring smile. "I can put a movie on if you want. Anything you might want."

Marley nodded a bit as she looked at the vast collection of movies that Emmett seemed to have although she didn't move from where she was sitting. She was afraid that her legs would wobble a little too much if she got up after all. "Anything you want to put on is fine," she said with another nod. She watched as Emmett moved and even as he picked out a movie and started it for them, Marley noted how graceful he moved. It truly was otherworldly and beautiful. It made sense to her how humans could so easily become entranced by vampires. Everything about them was meant to intrigue and entrap their victims although Marley knew she wasn't Emmett's victim. Still he had her caught whether he realized it or not.

"I hope you like action movies," Emmett said as he sat down beside her. He placed an arm around her and watched as she blushed but moved closer to him. He wondered for a moment if he should get her a blanket. He knew, after all, that he was cold and having her cuddled up might make her shiver. Since she looked comfortable so far, however, Emmett allowed himself to bask in the warmth that he felt radiating from Marley right now. "It's usually what I watch."

Marley smiled and nodded as she snuggled in at Emmett's side. His body was cold, like marble, but she felt oddly comfortable curled up at her side, like it was right where she was meant to be. She let out a happy sigh as she got cuddled up with the vampire. "I don't mind at all," she said with a soft smile. "I don't have a preference when it comes to movies and I'd rather that you pick something that you'll enjoy anyway."

As the movie started, Emmett pulled her a bit closer. He wasn't sure that he could get close enough to her right now to be honest. He kissed the top of her head and then nuzzled his nose there, breathing her in. That smell still had a dizzying effect on him. He didn't know, sometimes, how he managed to stay in complete control when he was near Marley. She was beautiful and sweet and the way that she smelled tempted him in so many ways. Emmett didn't hold his breath around her though. He loved the way that she smelled and he wanted to drink it in while he could. He watched Marley to make sure that she was enjoying the movie and chuckled as he saw her eyelids flutter a bit before starting to close.

"Did you want to head home?" he softly asked as his fingers brushed along her upper arm. The movie had just started but if she was too sleepy to sit up with him, Emmett knew that he would take her home. While he didn't sleep, he knew that she needed her sleep after all. "You're looking awfully tired. I didn't mean to keep you up."

Marley looked up at Emmett with a small smile and shook her head. "No, I'm fine. I … I'm not ready to go yet. I feel like I just got here," she said as she sat up a bit. The last thing that she wanted to do was leave now. She felt like she was far too comfortable here to leave yet anyway.

"Well are you hungry? I could take you to get something to eat if you'd like," Emmett offered, unsure of what to do. He had never had a human over like this before. He wasn't sure how to deal with any of those things that Marley might need and he hadn't exactly talked to Edward about what he should be doing to make sure that Marley was happy and alright at a time like this. Still food seemed like a good idea since he wasn't sure when she had eaten last.

"Something to eat might be good but we don't have to go anywhere. We could order something for me. I wouldn't mind that," she said with a shrug. Now that she had gotten comfortable with being in Emmett's room, Marley didn't want to leave just because she happened to be a little hungry. She would have waited until she got home to eat if she had to after all.

"I'll order you something then. Maybe a small pizza?" he asked, his head tilted quizzically. He wanted her to be happy, to feel comfortable with him. Emmett was trying to make sure that he took care of her human needs, too afraid to let her go without eating because he wasn't sure what might happen if she didn't eat like she should. He didn't know how to deal with taking care of a human like this after all but he was trying and he hoped that Marley knew that. Emmett would do what he could to take care of her, for however long she wanted him around actually. "What do you want?"

It hadn't taken long for Marley to consider Emmett's offer of food though. She certainly though that a pizza would be good right about now although she wasn't sure that Emmett would know where to order one from for her. "A small pizza is fine. Pepperoni and green peppers. Or pineapple and bacon. Either one of those would be good."

Emmett flashed her a smile before shifting to get up. He found a menu online and called in an order for her, announcing that the food would be there in about 30 minutes. Marley nodded with a small smile, realizing now that she was hungry. She wasn't paying too much attention to the movie right now though. It was just background noise and she tried to focus on it so she didn't fall asleep. The last thing that Marley wanted was to fall asleep just yet.

About 30 minutes into the movie, the doorbell rang and Emmett rushed out to get Marley's food. They sat quietly as she ate although she felt awkward as he watched her chew. At least twice during her meal, she had to ask the dark-haired man to stop staring. Emmett would quickly look away then before his attention would shift back to the young woman at his side. Once she finished eat, setting aside the box, she curled up at Emmett's side.

Marley was quiet as she watched the movie, trying to focus on that. It was difficult though because Emmett was so close to her. It made it hard for her to think straight. When his fingers lightly brushed along her upper arm, she let out a shaky breath. Glancing up at Emmett, she wasn't surprised to find him staring at her instead of watching the movie. She bit her lip, feeling the heat creeping up the back of her neck as she started to blush. Marley wasn't sure that she'd ever get used to having the dark-haired vampire's attention. It didn't make any sense to her but she was happy that he was interested in her, that he wasn't avoiding her anymore.

"What's wrong?" he asked, threading his fingers through her hair.

Marley smiled and shook her head. "Nothing's wrong. Just trying to work out what I did to get your attention in the first place. You're trusting me with this big secret about you, about your family. That's … huge," she said with a soft sigh. She knew that she'd never tell anyone but it was a lot of weight to bear. "It's a lot to try to process. That's all."

"Would it be better if you didn't know?"

Marley shook her head immediately. She sat up so she could look Emmett right in the eyes. She wanted him to know what she really meant by what she had said. "I'm glad that I know. That's not it at all. I'm just not used to being the bearer of secrets. Other than Kendra, not a lot of people trust me with secrets," she said with a slight shake of her head yet again. "Even then the most I've ever been trusted with was hearing who Kendra happened to have a crush on or something."

"And who does she have a crush on?" Emmett had a sly smile on his lips as he asked, his amber colored eyes alight with playfulness. He let out a booming laugh as he watched her roll her green eyes. "So you _can_ keep a secret. See? Nothing to worry about."

"Easy for you to say," Marley said, scoffing at his words. His confidence in her was amazing but that didn't mean that she believed in herself as much as he seemed to believe in her. "You're not the one who will be walking around, knowing that the person that you like is actually a vampire."

Emmett laughed again, getting her to laugh as well as he nudged her very gently with his shoulder. He was still getting used to being gentle. Being with a human wasn't going to be easy but he knew that he could do it. He knew that he could be careful with her. The last thing that he wanted to do was hurt her after all.

"I'm a vampire, yes, but I know that you won't spend every day thinking about it. I'm just like you. I just … don't eat like everyone else," he said with a fluid shrug of his broad shoulders. He flashed Marley a toothy, almost blinding grin. "You're safe with me. I hope that you know that."

"I do. I know that," she said, nodding. Very carefully, Marley leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Emmett's cool cheek, right where his dimple would poke out. "Maybe I should head home now. It's not like we won't be spending plenty of time together from here on out. Right?"

Emmett was still grinning, nodding slightly as he shifted to stand. He held his hand out for her, watching as her delicate hand was placed in his. "Let me get you home then. I don't want your parents to hate me before they even get a chance to meet me after all."


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N:** Thank you to my newest reviewer for giving me a kick in the behind to get this chapter done. All those reviews made me want to see if I could get out a new chapter and guess what? I did! So thank you for that inspiration. Also, in general, I'd like to thank everyone who's been reading this. I know it's been slow going with additions but I'm trying. I have so many other stories going at the same time so it takes some time for me to get to work on one of them long enough to get something good ready for everyone here! Thank you for your patience with me. I hope you keep reading the story. So thanks for the 47 reviews, 71 favorites, 85 follows and 23567 views! Wow! Amazing!

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Marley didn't feel like she could sleep when she got home. She felt far too wired to be able to unwind just yet. The first thing her mother did was yell when she got home since the brunette hadn't called to say that she wouldn't be home for dinner. Her mother started to go on and on about being worried sick about how long Marley had been gone. She had explained to her parents that she had already eaten though, that she had managed to lose track of time.

Her mother tried to start an argument with Marley but she didn't bite the bait. There was no way that she was going to fight with her parents tonight after all. Not letting her mother ruin her good mood, she promised that she would call next time that she was going to have dinner with a friend and then hugged the woman. Her mother was so taken by surprise that she couldn't seem to be upset with her daughter after that. She just nodded and smiled softly as Marley headed upstairs.

She took the stairs two at a time, wanting to get upstairs although she wasn't sure why that was. She headed for her room and sat down on her bed for a moment, thinking about Emmett and wondering what their date would be like. She still couldn't believe that someone like him wanted to date someone like her. It didn't take long for Marley to get antsy though so she got up and grabbed a pair of pink pajama bottoms, ones that were covered with little white sheep and fluffy, cartoony looking clouds and a pink camisole before heading for the bathroom. A shower seemed like just the thing to ease her mind.

Marley took her time under the hot spray, her mind still reeling a bit. She hadn't worried this much when she found out that Emmett was a vampire although she couldn't explain it. None of that scared her but the idea of going on a date with him seemed to freak her out. Taking a bit longer than she normally would have, which included shampooing her hair twice, Marley stepped out of the shower, reaching for a white fluffy towel. She dried off, got dressed and headed back to her room as she ran her brush through her long brown hair.

Tying her hair into a ponytail, she sat down at her desk, pulling out some of her homework. She had Emmett hadn't really had time for homework and she had done quite a bit of it at school so she didn't have too much to work on right now. Still Marley knew that she needed to pass the time somehow and since she had told her parents that she was doing homework at Emmett's house, well, it seemed like a good idea to get it done. Between the tour and meeting his family and then hanging out in his room, Marley hadn't had time for homework while at Emmett's house.

After putting everything away, she considered calling Kendra but it was getting later and she knew that Kendra would just want to come over. Right now she didn't think that her parents would be okay with that. Instead she tried to lie down in bed, putting on her headphones as she pulled out a book to read. She thought that maybe if she read for a bit, it would quiet her mind. She couldn't get past the first page though, her mind swirling with thoughts. Tonight, it seemed like her brain just didn't want to turn itself off. Tomorrow after school she was going to go on a date with Emmett Cullen and she knew that she was more nervous than she had been about going to meet his family today.

She glanced over at the digital clock beside her bed before rolling out of bed and standing in front of her closet. There was no way that she was getting any sleep any time soon so she figured that she should do something productive with her time. The brunette sorted through all the clothes in her closet, which was a significant amount ever since Alice took her shopping, and slowly she put together an outfit. She wanted to look pretty tomorrow but she didn't want her outfit to scream 'I'm going on a date later' because she was pretty sure her parents wouldn't be happy about that.

She was finding it difficult to find an outfit that would work for school and still be really cute to wear on a date with Emmett though. She blew out a puff of air, trying to get some hair out of her face as she held a shirt up to look at herself in the full-length mirror on the back of her closet door. Hanging it back up, Marley quickly reached for another rubber band, tying her hair up again, this time in a messy bun before she went back to looking through her closet. After awhile, just holding things up didn't seem to work for her so she started trying on outfits, slowly making her way through almost everything that she seemed to own.

It took some time for her to put together an outfit that she liked but Marley finally settled on a bright, neon green top that would tie in the front, right at her waist, a pair of white jeans and a matching pair of neon green heels. It wouldn't be terrible to wear to school, although the heels might be, but it would still be cute for her date with Emmett. Satisfied with her choice, Marley laid it out on the back of the chair at her desk before slipping back into bed again. She knew she wasn't going to get much sleep tonight but she was okay with that. There were too many butterflies in her stomach to keep her from really getting any rest anyway.

She laid in bed, staring at the ceiling for a while. The only sounds she could hear were the sounds of the crickets outside of her opened window and the sounds of the house settling. She kept her window open in case Emmett decided to show up. Maybe he would come to see her and maybe he wouldn't. All that the brunette knew was that she was too excited to fall asleep just yet. Slowly her eyes fluttered closed. After awhile sleep overtook her and Marley drifted off, curled up in her blanket.


End file.
